UN General Assembly
1955

95. The latest survey of the economic situation of Latin America, prepared by the secretariat of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA), includes some very valuable statistical data for an assessment of the economic position of that vast and promising part of the world. The investment coefficient declined from 17 per cent in 1952 to 14.9 per cent in 1954. The terms of trade index of a group of Latin American countries dropped from 110 in 1951 to 92 in 1954. Imports of capital goods, which represented 40 per cent of all our foreign purchases in 1940, now represent only 37.5 per cent. In 1954, $96 million flowed into Latin America in the form of investments, but our remittances abroad in payment of interest, profits and amortization amounted to $630 million. This complex of indices and data is reflected in an increase of 1.5 per cent in the per capita, gross product. If we contrast this figure with that for the United States of America, which was 2 per cent in 1954, we can see quite clearly that, far from narrowing, the gap between industrialized and underdeveloped countries is increasing in a spectacular fashion.