Why George Soros cannot cause an Indian rupee crisis - 23 February
George Soros, the controversial billionaire and philanthropist, is blamed by market experts and economists for exacerbating the Asian financial crisis in 1997. As Soros finds himself at the center of yet another controversy for his remarks about Prime Minister Modi’s connections to industrialist Gautam Adani, is the Indian rupee under threat? Soros has made short bets on sovereign currencies in the past, and he has won. George Soros’s Big Short on the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit The Asian Financial Crisis began a month after Thai authorities unpegged the baht from the dollar in August 1997. By encouraging Thai banks, financial institutions, and businesses to borrow dollars without hedges, sany hedges, domestic lending was heavily subsidized. Thailand, however, faced difficulties repaying its dollar debt obligations due to the dollar’s strength and falling trade. In light of this, the authorities decided to lift the baht-to-dollar peg. By October 1997, the baht had fallen 60% ...