Attracting Investors: Lessons for Nigeria from Asia's 1997 crisis
Lessons from Asia 97

Key questions this article answers:

  1. Asia was celebrated for over two decades (1965-1990) for its strong economic growth and development. What changed in the late 1990s, triggering a financial crisis? 

  2. What lessons can Nigeria learn from the financial crisis that lasted almost two years (1997-1999)?

 

From 1965 to the early 1990s, nations admired most of East Asia for their sustained and fast economic growth, including spectacular improvements in their quality of life. Many called it a miracle, a term that quickly became fine print in our history books and Economics 101 lectures: The East Asian Miracle.

 


Countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia recorded GDP growths ranging from 8% to 13% between 1985 to 1994, while their GDP per capita more than tripled. In Malaysia, for example, GDP per capita grew 4x to $4,260 in 1990 from $1,545 in 1965.

 


But something changed in the late 1990s—precisely, 1997.

East Asia, particularly

This story is only available to Premium subscribers Subscribe or sign in to finish reading

Not ready to subscribe? Register to read a selection of free stories

Dumebi Oluwole

Dumebi Oluwole

Read Latest

Cold Storage in Africa I: Market size, segmentation, drivers (July 2025)

PREMIUM - 01 JUL 2025

Weekly Africa Macro Update: June 23 - 27, 2025

PREMIUM - 30 JUN 2025

Local-currency PE funds could unlock Africa’s pension capital base

PREMIUM - 27 JUN 2025

Agriculture Transaction Brief: Ghanaian agri-tech firm, Complete Farmer, raises €2.2m ($2.5m) from EU-backed agricultural fund

PREMIUM - 25 JUN 2025

Download our mobile app for a more immersive reading experience

Scan QR code
mobile download