capital flight

Cultural  

1. The rapid movement of investments out of a market or country that is seen by investors as unstable.

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In 1998, Indonesia experienced a capital flight, which brought on political as well as economic instability.

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capital flight

But that doesn’t mean a more wholesale wave of capital flight from the world’s biggest economy won’t happen.

From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026

Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economist at Virginia Tech, estimated Iran’s total capital flight last year at between $10 billion and $20 billion, creating what he called “a bad situation that does not seem tenable.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026

“If domestic confidence in the government’s and Bank of Japan’s commitment to low inflation is lost, the reasons to buy JGBs disappear, and more disruptive capital flight ensues,” he says.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 21, 2025

China's diplomatic shift comes as different pressures build on Xi, including the economic downturn, which has been exacerbated by capital flight, a property crisis and high youth unemployment.

From Reuters ● Oct. 17, 2023

The Mexican peso crisis produced capital flight, the loss of banking system deposits, and a severe, but short-lived, recession in 1995; a series of reforms to bolster the domestic banking system followed.

From The 1999 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency