Private capital flow returned relatively quickly, particularly direct foreign investment (and, in fact, Mexico’s foreign debt is larger now than in 1994); the annual GDP growth figures were minus 6 per cent in the year following the crisis, and plus 5 per cent in the year after that, so that two years later GDP is back somewhere near the original starting point;  17  It was unlike most earlier IMF crises, in that neither budget deficits nor lax monetary policy were the cause - see Macfarlane (1997a).
By reacting more symmetrically - being tighter in booms as well as looser in busts - the central bank would discourage excessive risk taking, and thereby reduce overinvestment already during the boom. This in turns leads to a smaller level of indebtedness and less severe consequences of a possible future burst.