UN General Assembly
1985

But events during the last 10 years, particularly during the first half of this decade, have also shown that interdependence can have dual implications. On the one hand, it can help countries adjust to external shocks and on the other it can also serve as an additional channel for the transmission of those shocks. The latter had a particularly devastating impact on the developing countries during the 1981-83 recession, which was also by an unfortunate coincidence the worst in post-war history. The vast majority of the developing countries are still reeling under the impact of this recession. Although this is the third year of the much-heralded recovery, the problems of the majority of developing countries remain as acute as ever. In 1984, no less than 44 developing countries experienced a stagnating or declining real per capita output, many of them for the fourth consecutive year. Even though world trade revived in 1984 commodity prices during the same period were still some 15 to 20 per cent below the level of 1980. The impact of this persistent weakness in commodity prices can be gaged when we consider that export earnings from primary commodities constitute the dominant share for at least 72 developing countries. I need hardly add that a vast number of them belong to the least developed category.