The UN’s Second Development Decade strategy aimed at 6 per cent annual economic growth and greater equity among social groups. The Survey supported the call for a New International Economic Order, a radical reorganization of global relations. But global turmoil frustrated most of these goals. The resultant shift towards monetarism slowed global growth, especially in poorer countries, greatly enhancing their debt servicing problems. Successive issues of the Survey called for equitable global expansion, greater policy coordination, more concessional financing for developing countries and reduced trade barriers. Here, the Survey was often ahead of its time. It argued for the basic needs approach, appropriate technology, rural–urban balance, and prudential borrowing. It said little or was silent about the role of women, dependency theory, and the limits to growth in this decade.
