International records / Foreign Relations of the United States

186. Briefing Memorandum From the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs ( Constable ) to Secretary of State Shultz

ndon the focus on economic adjustment. Treasury’s paper cites “growing resistance” to adjustment—yet over the past year many previously recalcitrant debtors have in fact begun to come around. Looking outside Latin America, we have the spectacle of a Nigerian coup replacing a corrupt, economically incompetent leader with one who calls publicly for devaluation and an IMF program. To the extent that important debtors do face “growing political opposition” or “inadequate growth” after years of IMF and US-assisted stabilization programs, the problem is primarily traceable to the excessively slow pa…