I will start with a brief recap of the Asian crisis, drawing some lessons and comparison with the European debt crisis. I would briefly discuss the economic setting and policy reform that brought Asia out of the crisis and end with some thoughts and reflections on the post crisis recovery period. Ladies and gentlemen, As a well-known American author, Mark Twain puts it, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme”. So despite the differences in the context and details of both the Asian and the European crises, the underlying root causes are not dissimilar. First, both crises, like most others in the recent economic history of the world, are often associated with the mispricing of risk and distorted incentives structures. In the case of Asia, our problem was both a currency and a banking crisis. We had to abandon the pegged exchange rate system which led to massive devaluation of our currency. With the corporate sector largely overleveraged and loaded with foreign debt, the sharp depreciation of the currency technically bankrupted firms overnight. Banks NPLs shot up and brought on with it the banking crisis. It was clear that the region’s “original sin” was well beyond redemption. We borrowed in foreign currencies and used it to finance projects that did not generate foreign exchange earning to service such a debt. In the case of Thailand, the amount of private external debt was over three times the level of international reserves.
Mr Duisenberg discusses the ongoing dialogue on monetary policy, the overall economic situation and other activities of the Eurosystem  Introductory statement by Dr Willem F Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank, at the Hearing before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, Brussels, on 20 March 2000. *  *  *  It is my pleasure to continue today our ongoing dialogue on monetary policy, the overall economic situation and other activities of the Eurosystem. Since our previous hearing in November, the European economic outlook has brightened further, while, at the same time, the balance of risks to price stability has shifted upwards owing, in particular, to external factors. Against this background, the decisions of the Governing Council of the ECB to raise interest rates in early February and last week, as well as the reasoning behind these steps, are at the centre of my presentation today. Moreover, I should like to touch upon the overall European economic environment. Finally, I shall briefly turn to some other activities of the Eurosystem which might be of particular interest to you. 1. Current economic developments and prospects  As you are aware, the Governing Council of the ECB decided on 3 February and 16 March 2000 to increase the three main ECB interest rates. These two decisions followed the interest rate decision taken on 4 November 1999.