UN General Assembly
1966

116. Even more than the existence of these discrepancies, the most upsetting feature of our time is the way in which these discrepancies are growing rapidly and dangerously worse. The phenomenon is so widespread that it has become almost a cliche to say that the rich countries are growing richer, while the poor are growing poorer. Two factors are helping to speed on this catastrophic development: first, the steady deterioration in the terms of trade as between the developed and the developing countries, and second, a marked slacking off in foreign aid. In world trade we are witnessing a fall in the prices of primary commodities, which the developing countries produce, whereas the cost of manufactured goods, which the developed countries produce, is rising. The developing countries' share of world exports, which was only one third in 1950, fell to barely one fifth in 1962.