export earnings or of a country's gross national product; (h) An international conference should be convened to deal with the existing external indebtedness of African countries and to elicit the pledging of additional financial resources on concessionary terms; (i) The international financial markets and developed countries should be urged to develop fiscal, budgetary and monetary policies that would bring about substantial reductions in the level of interest rates that have to be paid by African countries, and to encourage large-scale bank lending to those countries; (j) The World Bank should be urged to increase its medium- and long-term financing and to expand its structural adjustment lending programmes both in scope and duration, in conformity with the growing needs of the African countries; (k) The seventh replenishment of the International Development Association, negotiated in the amount of $9 billion, falls short of the needs of African countries and it is extremely important that supplementary funding of at least $3 billion should be negotiated; (1) The International Monetary Fund should reformulate the criteria of its compensatory financing facilities in favour of countries afflicted by natural disasters; and should make a substantial reallocation of special drawing rights in response to the current economic crisis, thereby restoring the reserves of African countries and increasing their credit-worthiness; (m) The period within which the Fund envisages adjustment of the current- account balance of payments should be 5 to 15 years, associated with low interest rates; (n) The Fund should be urged to resort less to devaluation policies, which are predicted on a strong supply-side response (practically inelastic and rigid in most African developing countries) and which seldom stimulate exports while adversely affecting the terms of trade; (o) The international community should adopt measures that improve access to the markets of the industrialized countries, develop schemes of generalized 
**Analysis**
The text appears to focus on economic development and the challenges faced by African countries in terms of external indebtedness, interest rates, and access to international financial resources. It also touches on the need for structural adjustment lending programs and the reformulation of criteria for compensatory financing facilities. These themes suggest that the text is primarily concerned with economic development.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade