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South-East Asian tigers which are made up of Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia were once heralded as the most successful emerging market economies and were seen as models of development to be emulated by the Caribbean. These market economies were successful in terms of their rapid growth and the striking gains in their populations living standards'. They had prudent fiscal policies and high rates of private saving. In less than a year Asia was transformed from the world's fastest growing economy to its slowest growing region. At the same time the region considered by many investors to offer the most attractive business opportunities was converted almost overnight into a net exporter of capital. The thought that these economies would become embroiled in one of the worst financial crises of the century seemed the most unlikely event that could occur. Yet this unforeseen event did occur and as many questioned what went wrong?