Twenty-second Report on the Activities of the Monetary Committee.

Abstract

The world economy in 1980 was hit by the effectsof the second oil shock. First, the expansion of economicactivity slowed distinctly: world production and tradegrowth rates fell sharply. Second, the current accountbalance of payments disequilibria of the major countrygroupings worsened further: the OPEC (Organization ofPetroleum Exporting Countries) surplus swelledconsiderably; this was matched by a more than twofoldincrease in the current payments deficit of all the OECD(Organization for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment) countries and a sharp rise in the non-oildeveloping countries' deficit.