Michel Camdessus, then Managing Director of the IMF, called the Mexican crisis “the first economic crisis of the twenty first century” – by which he meant that it was the first emerging market country crisis whose immediate roots were more in the capital account than in the current account of the balance of payments.
The Mexican crisis was followed by the crises of East Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia and Korea that started in the second half of 1997. The crisis also affected Malaysia, which by imposing capital controls and other measures avoided having to enter an IMF program.