UN General Assembly
1976

37. If inflation is being gradually mastered in particular in the "have" countries, and if expansion is again possible there, the developing countries are still subjected to the rigors of an extremely difficult situation. The problems of balances of payments are as critical in this area as before. The deficit in this field and for developing countries in 1975 (more than $40 billion) would, according to certain estimates, rise to about $112 billion by 1980 if the present trends were to continue. This is a difficult situation on the economic plane and on the monetary plane. The reform of the international monetary system is to be revised or simply cast anew. The machinery adopted for the adjustment of the exchange rate is iniquitous and defective. The expected co-operation by the central banks to ensure the stability of the system has never operated properly. The interests of the poor countries are more than ever neglected. Proof of this is that the trust fund devised to ensure transfers of means of payment to the countries of the third world has its resources constantly decreased owing to the fluctuations in the price of gold as a result of the recent decisions of the International Monetary Fund. The trust fund-a futile successor of the mechanism linking special drawing rights and the resources for development requested by the poor countries-has not lasted long.