First-hand expat experiences living in Thailand during 1997 financial crash

[bangkokgalaxy]

I'm trying to prepare for what may be ahead. However, I found few first-hand accounts online of what everyday life was like for expats during that time (aside from high-level economic analysis).

 

What was it like living in Thailand (as a retiree, business owner, or long-stay expat) after the 1997 economic crash? What might current foreign residents expect if the economy crashes?

 

Aside from a weaker baht (and more favorable exchange rates), what were the pros, cons, upsides, and downsides for expats who lived through the crisis? Will rental rates come down? Did crime rates go up? Did the cost of living for expats (who earn and remit money from outside Thailand), get easier, or were there other financial challenges for foreigners, even those who were not earning money inside Thailand?

 

Were there opportunities (during the downturn) to start and run a business in Thailand? Did the weaker baht lend itself to starting an export business, for example?

 

In short, it would be great to see how the last crisis played out to help expats strategically prepare. How can foreign residents protect themselves and seize opportunities, based on what we saw in 1997?

Edited May 4 by bangkokgalaxy

[couchpotato]

Actually a good time for me. Built 2 houses during that time when the $-baht was over 50.  Last remittance was 57, which made my houses extremely cheap.

Went about my normal job (in BKK), did all my regular activities...so can't remember anything adverse.

I'm sure others will have their own stories.

[ChaiyaTH]

Nothing much changes as the majority earns minimum already. Also can't compare before to what is next, the big global crash will be like the worst in a century. Our own money will be just as messed up at that point. Well yeah, good exchange rates.

Edited May 4 by ChaiyaTH

[BigBruv]

I was there - arrived for the 1st time and stayed for a year in 1997.

Things were VERY cheap compared to the west but otherwise no real difference.

 

Some Thais, at the time, were convinced it was 'farang's fault' - George Soros WAS involved but not sure he's farang (he's jewish of course).

 

Obvs they're xenophobic already so if the <deleted> hits the fan it WILL be blamed on outsiders (as thai's are perfect and would never borrow

irresponsibly / for 'big face' in foreign currencies ($ as they had in 1997)).

 

 

 

[george]

July/August 1997. It was a crazy time indeed. It was in the month, or month before Lady Diana died, remember it like yesterday, and the exchange rates was astonishing around that time. That was the only thing that affected my wallet and also the interest on fixed deposits was a crazy ~15% per annum at that time.

[OneMoreFarang]

I live in Thailand since 1995. Not much money, working to make a living, still young.

I personally didn't notice any change before to after the crisis.

Maybe I didn't notice anything because at that time Thailand was new to me, and I wasn't working for some big international company.

Easy life, 60B lady drinks in Nana, times were good.

 

[Dioj]

Mainly I remember that all of the finance companies, which were paying 13% on fixed deposits, went bust and thousands of people lost all their money. I had money in some of them too, but luckily I had pulled it all out about 6 months before things went titts up. 

 

I remember the incredible exchange rates in favor of foreign currencies when they floated the Baht, but I wasn't in a position to remit much more into Thailand at that time to benefit from all those great rates. 

 

There was all the media whirlwind talking about how Chavalit (the PM at the time) had informed all his chronies a couple of days before they floated the Baht that the Baht would crash and how he and all his mates made millions/billions sending their money offshore a couple of days before the crash and then nearly doubling their wealth a couple of days later when they exchanged all their money back into Baht at the much higher exchange rates. 

 

The stock market also crashed and many people jumped in on stocks from some of the biggest and most well established Thai companies at a fraction of their previous prices.
 

PTT also went bust and all those foreign business advisory companies like McKinsey and Booze Allen Hamilton were raking it in by forcing the sale and liquidation off assets of large Thai companies that got into financial trouble. 

 

I remember all the masses of non-performing loans that pushed many Thai banks to the brink. Some of the banks had set up displays in their main branches showing properties that had fallen into loan default and were being offered for 1/3 to 1/2 of the price in some cases. TMB was one of those such banks that had a huge display of such properties setup in their head office branch lobby across from Chatuchak Park. 

 

There was also the forming of the TAMC, a quasi government agency that was established temporarily, and with a short term mandate, to help the banks liquidate assets tied to some of their larger non-performing loans. 

 

There was also a period when there were a lot of high end used cars being sold/auctioned for cheap and real estate developers who were just completing new condo projects were in a situation where supply heavily outweighed demand. Thus, they were also forced to compete with all the banks trying to unload non-performing assets and many were forced to drop prices on new condo units if they wanted to sell their units off quickly rather than wait it out. And the same went for office buildings trying to rent out vacant office space. Landlords were dropping rental rates on newly completed prime commercial properties to lure in new tenants. 

 

Otherwise, day to day life was pretty much the same as usual for many people. Some masses of locals lost their jobs in certain industries and there was talk of an increase in crime as a result, but it was hard to measure any of that. And most people didn't notice much of the collapse unless they worked directly in any of the real estate or financial sector related industries. 

 

Panthip Plaza was in full swing with all the pirated software CDs and Hollywood movies on DVD being sold on nearly every floor. Lots of crowds of people too on the 4th floor of MBK buying up and swapping cell phones regularly since much of the cell phone trade in Thailand at that time was mainly done through small shops in MBK. The tiny Motorola flip phones were also the sought after bees knees at that time. 

 

Emporium was the latest and coolest shopping mall to go eat at on the weekends. The sky train was under construction and near completion. And you could sit at a table on Sukhumvit Road on the corner of Soi 15 at night drinking a bottle of Sangthip with a bucket of ice and a few bottles of soda water as mixers for a total of around 90 Baht and watch the steamy world go by. 

 

 

[Dioj]

I'll add that it was a great time for any of the industries in Thailand that did a lot of export trade. And tourists coming into Thailand with Western currencies at the time were finding everything in Thailand so cheap. It was also the birth of medical tourism industry in Thailand with many people from the Middle East and the wealthier countries in Asia flooding into Thailand for high quality and inexpensive medical care. 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

It was a difficult time for individuals and companies that had deposits with the shuttered finance companies. Loans denominated in foreign currency became much harder to service. Lots of companies laid off staff.

 

Many properties and luxury autos came onto the market at steeply discounted prices in the scramble to raise cash. There was a very brief period before retailers could mark up imported items when local retail prices were about half the US retail price. I think it only took a few days before this was corrected.

 

The USD/baht exchange rate wasn't above 50 for very long, but it did then settle out in the mid-40s for a longer period. This was a good time to bring in money to buy a house or condo.

 

But on a day-to-day basis, nothing much changed in my life.

 

There weren't as many foreigners working in Thailand back then and I think the retirement visa had only recently become available, so the expat community was much smaller than it is today. Tourist arrivals were only about seven or eight million per year back then, too.

[CMHomeboy78]

As a graphic artist my income came from abroad - USA mostly.

The immediate effect of the sudden baht devaluation was to effectively double my money.

What had been a good life here with my Thai wife and our fwo young daughters became even better, at least from a financial standpoint.

For the local khon muang that we lived among, the situation became one where they had much less buying power.

Many in my wife's extended family were involved in the building trades in one way or another.

All the big construction projects shut down leaving the workers to get whatever small jobs they could in their own neighborhoods.

The ways they got by reminded me very much of stories I had heard growing up from my parent's generation of their experiences during the Depression of the 1930's.

[Jenkins9039]

20 hours ago, bangkokgalaxy said:

I'm trying to prepare for what may be ahead. However, I found few first-hand accounts online of what everyday life was like for expats during that time (aside from high-level economic analysis).

 

What was it like living in Thailand (as a retiree, business owner, or long-stay expat) after the 1997 economic crash? What might current foreign residents expect if the economy crashes?

 

Aside from a weaker baht (and more favorable exchange rates), what were the pros, cons, upsides, and downsides for expats who lived through the crisis? Will rental rates come down? Did crime rates go up? Did the cost of living for expats (who earn and remit money from outside Thailand), get easier, or were there other financial challenges for foreigners, even those who were not earning money inside Thailand?

 

Were there opportunities (during the downturn) to start and run a business in Thailand? Did the weaker baht lend itself to starting an export business, for example?

 

In short, it would be great to see how the last crisis played out to help expats strategically prepare. How can foreign residents protect themselves and seize opportunities, based on what we saw in 1997?

Thailand need not worry, it's the US, Western State debt bubble this time round - that's where you need to be concerned, and with Basel 3 - Forced Bail In's.

[jimbob123]

Remember it well. Our salaries doubled overnight as many employees left Thailand unable to pay mortgages back home in the UK so management doubled our salaries hoping we'd stay. I was young, had no mortgage or debt and loved the extra spending power. Only imports were more expensive so local beer and services were relatively half price. Great times!

Edited May 5 by jimbob123

[kwonitoy]

Was working on the Yadana Pipeline for PTT in 97, getting paid in USD so our money effectively doubled.

Was some worry about banks collapsing but our advice was to use the purple bank, I was told it was at that time majority owned by the King and that the country would have to be in flames before that bank would go under.

Looking at condos in Pattaya for my boss, Royal Cliff had some amazing fire sale prices

Food was cheap, living was cheap, life was good.

[SbuxPlease]

Seems like such an event would likely improve conditions (more or less) for those retired or expats with foreign income. Some industries might even prosper - such as tourism companies that have mostly foreign customers and Thai baht expenses.