During the decades of the 1960s and 1970s, the economies of the developing countries experienced relatively acceptable levels of growth. Those countries and their creditors thus became optimistic about their long-term development prospects owing mainly to the boom in the output of their commodities, in terms of both Price and quanti tv. That optimism encouraged large-scale borrowing by the developing countries to provide for certain basic needs and commitments, and large-scale lending by the creditors to maximize their profits. But the growth of the economies of the developing countries came to a virtual halt and even suffered reverses in the decade of the 1980s, now referred to as the lost decade. The result was a decline in lending and investment and the onset of the debt crisis. As many speakers before me at the special session have rightly argued, the debt Problem has ceased to be a crisist it has indeed become a permanent economic handicap of developing countries. In fact. the debt crisis is now in its eighth year, with barely any solutions on the horizon. The external debt stock of the developing countries has risen from $750 billion in 1982 to $1,200 billion at the JB/9 A/S-18/PV. 7 39-.40 (Mr. Johnson, Liberia) end of 1989. Africa's external debt, which now stands at $250 billion, will exceed $600 billion in 1995 and reach $1,500 billion in the vear 2002. The only solutions that have been proposed or attempted thus far, including the Brady plan, have merely succeeded in making debtor countries worse off and creditor countries better off. Those solutions have been timid, tentative and unimaginative. What we need now are bold and comprehensive actions to deal effectively with the debt problem, which has been aggravated by the attitude of most multilateral financial institutions, particularly the International Monetary 
**Analysis**
The text primarily discusses the economic issues faced by developing countries, specifically the debt crisis and its impact on their long-term development prospects. It also touches on the role of multilateral financial institutions in exacerbating the problem. Given the focus on economic growth, debt, and international institutions, it is likely that the text falls under one or two categories related to economics.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade