Understandably, the new situation created great uncertainty in the financial  BIS Review 1/1998  -4-  markets and initiated an ongoing debate on what the consequences of these developments would be for South Africa. There is no doubt that major adjustments will be necessary to restore equilibrium in the economies of the affected East Asian countries.
The EMCP contained a set of macroeconomic convergence criteria which member countries were expected to observe prior to the emergence of the monetary union. By 1999 however, it was generally observed that the pace of implementation of the EMCP, especially the establishment of the single monetary zone, had not matched the expectations of the founding fathers.