Later it became apparent that the crisis would not only be restricted to certain countries in Asia, but would affect many countries around the world. The international financial system was dealt a further blow when Russia de facto devalued the rouble, imposed a moratorium on foreign credit repayments and unilaterally restructured public debt in August 1998.
Moreover, some 29 countries 2 that use the euro as a reference currency for their exchange rate policies are close to the euro area. Chart 4 illustrates the regional dimension of the international role of the euro. The share of the euro in cross-border loans increased among the “old” non-euro area EU countries (UK, Denmark Sweden), but decreased in other parts of the world.