Tiger economy
National economy that undergoes rapid growth / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A tiger economy is the economy of a country which undergoes rapid economic growth, usually accompanied by an increase in the standard of living.[1] The term was originally used for the Four Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) as tigers are important in Asian symbolism, which also inspired the Tiger Cub Economies (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines). The Asian Tigers also inspired other economies later on; the Anatolian Tigers (certain cities in Turkey) in the 1980s, the Gulf Tiger (Dubai) in the 1990s, the Celtic Tiger (Republic of Ireland) in 1995–2000, the Baltic tigers (Baltic states) in 2000–2007, and the Tatra Tiger (Slovakia) in 2002–2007.[2]
In the 1960s, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Myanmar were considered as the "Tiger of Asia" Economies as all three countries were experiencing high growth.[3] Internal issues however led to the economies of all three countries to falter.[3] Israel's rapid economic growth in the 1990s, and again in the 2000s and 2010s following a brief recession, earned it a reputation as a tiger economy, and one newspaper dubbed it the "Hebrew tiger."[4][5] Bangladesh has been described as an emerging "Asian tiger" in recent years due to its high economic growth and industrialization which bear many similarities to the way the Four Asian Tigers industrialized between the 1960s and 1990s.[6][7]
Another tiger economy is that of Armenia. Because of the remarkable, often two-digit economic growth that Armenia showed until the 2007–08 financial crisis, it emerged as the Caucasian Tiger. During this period, sustained economic growth allowed for economic stability, moderate fiscal deficits and external debt, as well as declining poverty rates.[8]
There is a term European Tiger which describes countries in Central and Eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.[9][10][11][12]