JAKARTA -- Emerging economies in Asia endured a challenging 2018 as currencies plummeted across the region. Several fell to historic lows against the U.S. dollar, battered by the Federal Reserve's rate hikes, the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing, and contagion from other emerging markets -- namely Turkey and its free-falling lira -- all of which have dented investor appetite for emerging market assets
Government as well as monetary authorities in Southeast Asia were left scrambling to come up with countermeasures for much of 2018.
