The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 affected many Asian countries, including South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and The Philippines – the so-called "tiger economies". Growth in the region's export economies led to soaring real estate values, aggressive corporate spending, and huge public infrastructure projects - all funded largely by heavy borrowing. High domestic interest rates encouraged companies to borrow heavily offshore (at lower interest rates) in order to fund aggressive investment.Most of these countries had fixed or semi-fixed exchange rates. Large current account deficits created downward pressure on those countries' currencies, encouraging speculative attacks.The tipping point was the default of Somprasong Land and the bankruptcy of Finance One, bringing to realisation that Thailand's property market was unsustainable. Currency traders began attacking the Thai baht's peg to the U.S. dollar.As it became difficult to fend off speculators, currencies were forced to float and devalue. As a result, companies that had received large unhedged foreign currency loans now faced impossibly high debt repayments in domestic currency terms. The panicked capital flight that ensued aggravated the currency depreciation, leaving indebted companies in even direr straits.