UN General Assembly
1986

There is no more striking illustration of the inequities and imbalances of the international economic system than the staggering dimensions of the external debt of the developing countries, which is now in excess of $700 billion. The most important factor influencing the dramatic and inexorable growth in indebtedness has been exorbitant rates of interest unilaterally imposed. Each debtor nation thus finds itself cast in the role of a modern-day Sisyphus, even more overwhelmed today by a debt which it thought it had lessened the day before. Developing countries, laboring under the harsh measures of internal adjustments necessary to settlement their external debt commitments, now find themselves in the paradoxical position of being net exporters of capital to the developed creditor countries. Should such an anomalous situation be allowed to persist, it will impede growth and development in the developing countries and will result in political and economic instability, the ripple effect of which would be felt across the entire international spectrum.