Much of the capital
inflow was inefficiently allocated and this was
reflected in the high ratio of non-performing loans to
debt (17%) and the high incremental capital output
ratios (ICOR) of more than 13 (Table 4, Cols. 4 and 5).
The defining indicator of the vulnerability of the Asia-
5 economies to an imminent crisis was the high ratio
of short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves
(STD/R). This ratio exceeded unity (average = 1.4) implying
that the available foreign exchange reserves
could not cover the repayment of the short-term
foreign debt - a cause for creditor panic (Table 4, Col. 6).
The above stylised facts reveal that Asia-5
economies were vulnerable to a crisis due to creditor
panic as foreshadowed in the panic models.16