Edge of a new era

Perhaps the most extraordinary, and certainly the most encouraging, economic development of the past twelve months has been the turnaround in the fortunes of the developing countries. The situation remains critically dangerous in much of Latin America and Africa; yet there are reasons to hope that one day history may look back on 1984 not only as the final year of the worst economic crisis in the Third World's experience, but also as the beginning of a new era of durable economic and social progress. There are signs that a long process of evolution has begun towards more market-oriented and pluralistic forms of social organization. The signs of a growing political maturity provide the firmest foundations for hope that the difficult adjustment processes imposed by the International Monetary Fund on many developing countries will ultimately succeed in creating the conditions for sustainable worldwide economic growth. ----30----