UN General Assembly
1983

159. In this connection, we must emphasize, in the first place, the grave situation of the international economy. This situation has a world-wide impact, but it has the most serious effect on the developing countries—not merely because of the temporary difficulties, however grave they may be, but because our countries seem to be immersed in a protracted crisis in which various factors work together to hamper our possibilities. I am referring in particular to external debt servicing, to the protectionism practiced by the industrialized countries, to the fall in the prices of export commodities and to the drastic reduction in development financing, both public and private, as well as to the high interest rates in the international financial market. 160. In that context, it is hard to imagine how some countries can find the resources to finance new projects and to modernize our industries, when there is a reduction in the flow of investments and when our exports cannot be placed in the protected markets of the developed world, at the same time that our financial obligations are increasing.