It is by no means surprising that, in system-wide financial crises, central bank
balance sheets in Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and in effect Thailand took some hits.
The hope must be that these hits prove temporary, and generally there are grounds
for hope. Last year the Indonesian government took responsibility for losses related
to Bank Indonesia loans to insolvent banks during the crisis. In Korea, the central
bank has received substantial repayments over the past two years on various
crisis-related credits. In Malaysia, a bank recapitalisation fund owned by the central
bank has recovered the bulk of the funds advanced to banks.