Global financial flows and their impact on the developing countries

Reiterates the need for broadening and strengthening the participation of developing countries in the international economic decision-making process; stresses that sound domestic macroeconomic policies of each country in regard to promoting macroeconomics stability and growth are primary elements for determining private capital flows and that the coordination of macroeconomic policies, where appropriate, and a favourable international economic environment play an important role in reinforcing their effectiveness; stresses the need for strengthened international cooperation through strengthened regional and multilateral cooperation to prevent future currency crises, which negatively affect not only developing countries but also the international financial and monetary system; invites the International Monetary Fund to ensure that, in exercising its role in promoting capital account liberalization, it does so in an orderly and flexible manner so as to enable member countries to tailor capital account liberalization to the circumstances of each individual country; requests the Secretary-General, in close cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions and the UN Conference on Trade and Development, to analyse the current trends in global financial flows, make recommendations in the World Economic and Social Survey, 1998 and the Trade and Development Report 1998 on ways and means to address the volatility of those flows, including measures to help economies to become more resilient with regard to currency fluctuations, and report on the effect of those fluctuations on growth and development, in particular in developing countries; also requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions and the UN Conference on Trade and Development, to report to the General Assembly at its 53rd session on the implementation of the present resolution.

Adopted without vote, 77th meeting

3 p.

Adopted at the 77th plenary meeting, 18 Dec. 1997.