(Mr. Bagbeni Adeito Nzenqeya, Zaire) During the forty-fourth session of the Assembly my country proposed that part of the debt be rescheduled in local currency, to enable the establishment of national development funds and at the same time to ease the balance of payments problems of developing countries, while switching budgetary measures to investment needed for economic and social development. Despite the active participation of creditor Governments in debt negotiations with the banks, within the framework of the Brady Plan, no agreement had been reached by the end of December last year. My delegation congratulates, and expresses its gratitude to, certain Governments which have agreed to reduce the debts of some low-income countries carrying out significant programmes of economic adjustment, to reschedule some public debts contracted in the form of credits for exploitation or to cancel certain debts outright. Compared with their record level in 1979-81, raw material prices fell by about 30 per cent in terms of the prices of manufactured products imported from the developed countries. That situation is threatening the balance of payments· of the developing countries, at a time when the rich countries are reducing their investment and official development assistance -in short, their transfers of capital to the developing countries -and at a time when those countries continued their own growth in 1989, the seventh consecutive year of uninterrupted expansion. JSM/ASW A/S-18/PV.4 128 (Mr. Reino, Portugal) subsistence or even survival, and that a large number of the least developed countries are being frustrated in their development efforts owing to the combination of chronic structural deficiencies and the burden of foreign debt, together with the general fall in commodity prices and the existence of an international environment that is not always favourable. At the beginning of a new decade, my Government is pleased to note an 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the debt burden of developing countries, the impact of foreign debt on their development efforts, and the need for debt rescheduling and cancellation. It also mentions the decline in raw material prices and the importance of investment and official development assistance for economic and social development. These topics suggest that the category should be related to economic development and international trade.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade