UN General Assembly
1986

It is also a matter of particular satisfaction for ray Government to note the forthcoming meeting between President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachov, since in a world thrown into turmoil by confrontation, it is an encouraging sign along the road to world peace. Until 1978, Central American nations had been showing marked economic growth. Although the period 1973 to 1978 witnessed an increase in the price of their main imports, the countries of the area were able to sort out their difficulties owing to an improvement in the international price of their export commodities and the inflow of external capital. Things changed drastically beginning in 1979, a year when a recession began, aggravated by the weakening of the world economy marked by a decline in production and exports, an increase in oil prices, and interest rates, a fall in private investment, and the accompanying factors of increased unemployment and intensification of political and social conflict in some countries of the region.