UN General Assembly
1992

Up to now Gabon, which falls into that category, has not benefited from any of these measures, whereas at the same time it has seen a sharp drop in its per capita income. It would be in the interests of no one, especially the international community, if the African countries were to go into a downward spiral of economic decline and indebtedness. Today everyone knows that the measures that have been advocated with a view to enabling our continent to escape from this impasse have, for the most part, proved to be inapplicable because they are inappropriate. The balance of payments of some of our countries has been affected by the international monetary system, which influences international exchanges. Therefore, it is urgent that the international community give much more backing to the developing countries, so that they and the African countries in particular may participate in world growth. Africa, 70 per cent of whose exports consist of prime commodities, has been hard hit by the detrimental effects of the fall in the prices of those