CHAPTER 13

Argentina and Turkey Lead the Sudden Stop

“Destination anywhere so far gone, I’m almost there”

—Joe Elliott

2017 was a strange year. Despite warnings about rising debt and soaring deficits, despite concerns about trade wars and political turmoil, markets soldiered on to all-time highs and investors, as well as economists, started to believe that this time was different.

Cheerful comments about synchronised growth flooded the specialized media, while the world ignored rising imbalances.

Then, throughout the first months of 2018 markets witnessed the ­collapse of emerging market currencies against the US dollar, led by Argentina’s peso, Turkey’s lira, Brazil’s real and Russian ruble.

The collapse of the Argentine Peso and other emerging ...

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