Tiger Cub Economies

Were as Panther States in the 1980s and 90s, four countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines in Southeast Asia indicated that had the chance, the economic rise of the so-called Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) from developing to developed country imitate. This rise was slowed significantly by the Asian crisis of 1997, none of the four countries was an industrial state. The term Panther States are therefore no longer used today.

The economic rise of these four countries was based on an appreciation of the Japanese yen relative to the U.S. dollar, under the Plaza Accord in 1985. To offset the competitive disadvantage of the strong yen, displaced Japanese company then a lot of their production to low-wage Asian countries. So until the early 1990s, more than 13 billion U.S. dollars have been invested in the Panther States.

Growth was slowed in the Panther States of 8-10 % to 5-6% by the Asian crisis of 1997. This is for example the plan of Malaysia to catch up to the year 2020 the industrialized countries, falter.

Jim O'Neill, chief analyst at Goldman Sachs, in 2005 published a list of the Next Eleven, whom he trusts a similar economic boom as the BRIC countries. In this he includes with Indonesia and the Philippines, two of the former Panther States.