UN General Assembly
1985

If we take as an example the unfortunate economic and social situation in Africa, we note the following: more than 150 million people suffer from malnutrition; the foreign indebtedness of that continent amounts to $US 174 billion; the balance-of-payments deficit is $US 18 billion; while some States spend their entire revenue on servicing their debt. Unemployment has reached enormous proportions and the Lagos plan, in which we had placed great hopes for the development of our continent, did not achieve its aims because of the drought, the lack of the necessary funds for investment and the deteriorating world economic and financial situation.