A/RES/53/172
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Deeply concerned at the overall declining trend in official development assistance, which is a
significant external resource for financing development and an important source of support to the efforts
of developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to create an enabling environment for
eradicating poverty and tackling basic social needs, especially where private capital flows may either be
inadequate or unavailable,
Regretting that the current crisis in financial markets, characterized, inter alia, by massive and sudden
outflows of capital from the affected countries and the sharp decline in private capital flows to developing
countries and some economies in transition, has resulted in higher interest rate spreads, leading to a
significant slowdown in economic activity,
Welcoming the continued efforts of the countries affected by the crisis to restore financial and
economic stability, ease the social impact of the crisis and put their economies on the path to recovery,
and in this context also welcoming the continued support of the international community, including the
multilateral financial institutions, to the affected countries,
Deeply concerned that the international financial crisis has acquired extremely worrying dimensions,
posing a threat to world economic development, and that if it were allowed to continue financial turmoil
could result in major setbacks to the global economy, in particular to the progress that most developing
countries have achieved in the 1990s,
Expressing concern at the negative effects of the financial crisis on international trade, in particular
the sharp reduction in commodity prices and its negative effects on the development prospects for
developing countries and some economies in transition, and emphasizing that keeping all markets open,
in accordance with multilateral trade rules, and maintaining continued growth in world trade, are key
elements in overcoming the crisis, and in this context rejecting the use of any protectionist measures,
Expressing concern that the financial crisis has also seriously affected the growth and development
prospects of least developed countries,
Recognizing that the current crisis has exposed weaknesses in the international financial system and
the urgent need to work on a wide range of reforms to create a strengthened international financial system
with a view to enabling it to deal more effectively and in a timely manner with the new challenges of
global financial integration,
Welcoming the convening of the special high-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council with
the Bretton Woods institutions held in New York on 18 April 1998 and the convening of the meeting of
the World Bank's “Exchange Programme” with a delegation of Ambassadors to the United Nations, led
by the President of the Economic and Social Council, held at Washington, D.C., on 27 and 28 May 1998,
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