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Malaysia enjoyed high rates of growth in the early 1990s. The economic crisis that struck Malaysia in 1997 caught the country by surprise. Amidst the economic turmoil that shook the other South-East Asian countries, Malaysia ventured to adopt an unorthodox policy response to the crisis, choosing to implement a policy package consisting of a pegged exchange rate and capital controls. This paper argues that the package, which went against orthodox policy prescriptions, did offer a limited measure of certainty to export-oriented businesses in so far as they were protected against currency fluctuations. This paper also argues that the unorthodox policy had its costs. These costs include the decrease in FDI, lowered competitiveness, possibly weaker financial institutions and a lack of transparency in decision-making.

The Asia-Pacific Development Journal (APDJ) is published twice a year by the Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The primary objective of the APDJ is to provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge, experience, ideas, information and data on all aspects of economic and social development issues and concerns facing the region and to stimulate policy debate and assist in the formulation of policy.

The development experience in the Asian and Pacific region has stood out as an extraordinary example of what can be achieved when policymakers, experts, scholars and people at large harness their creativity, knowledge and foresight. The Asia-Pacific Development Journal has been a proud partner in this process, providing a scholarly means for bringing together research work by eminent social scientists and development practitioners from the region and beyond for use by a variety of stakeholders. Over the years, the Journal has emerged as a key United Nations publication in telling the Asian and Pacific development story in a concise, coherent and impartial manner to stimulate policy debate and assist in the formulation of policy in the region.

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