UN General Assembly
1981

103. The international community must act with the utmost determination to put an end to these practices of force, plunder, oppression and exploitation which, in effect, are expressions of neocolonialism, pursuing in new forms, more refined but as painful as the old ones, perpetuation of the exploitation of the weak by the strong and the enrichment of advanced States at the expense of the others. It is imperative, in our view, to introduce the practice of reasonable interest rates, bearing in mind that widening the existing gaps is detrimental to the rich States themselves, since it causes the world market to shrink, endangers general progress in which all States have a vital interest, creates instability and makes even sharper already existing international contradictions. In Romania's view, we must bring about an international understanding that the ceiling of interest rates will not exceed 8 per cent. For developing countries, that ceiling should be about 5 per cent; and the least developed countries should be granted credits without interest, or with a maximum interest rate of 2 to 3 per cent.