CEPAL Review - Volume 1984, Issue 23, 1984

The stalements made by the Executive Secretary at the ECLAC sessions are among the fullest expressions of the institution’s thought. The present article reproduces the address delivered at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Twentieth Session (April 1984), the aim being to present an overview of the present economic situation of Latin America.

The North-South dialogue is currently passing through a prolonged period of stagnation which has given rise to some pessimism regarding the possibility of securing a change in international economic relations through dialogue and mutual understanding between the parties involved.

Since its inception, the International Monetary Fund has been harshly criticized for the policy measures it has recommended. In most cases, this criticism has taken the form of an outright rejection of IMF policies, mainly because of the high economic, social and political costs they entail.

The Latin American countries are faced with various options for financing or adjusting their external accounts. This article makes a detailed analysis of such options and indicates the main paths followed by those countries and the economic and social costs incurred during the adjustment process in recent years.

In recent years there has been much discussion of the effect on manufacturing industry produced by the recent application of global monetarist policies. In the present article it is asserted that they have introduced an anti-industrial bias which has diminished the importance of the sector and, in some cases, has even destroyed a large part of its installed capacity.

In a concise summary, the author outlines the main trends in Argentine industrial development and discusses the problems which they entail.

The International Conference on Population is meeting in Mexico in August 1984. It is to discuss “selected issues of highest priority”, with a view to contributing to the evaluation and further implementation of the World Population Plan of Action.

Past experience shows that efforts to increase the participation of the excluded groups are usually based oil mistaken, and often niyihical ideas regarding development, democracy, the State and the people themselves.