22 July 1986

38th plenary meeting

Ongoing and future research on transnational corporations

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling the report of the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations entitled Transnational Banks: Operations, Strategies and Their Effects in Developing Countries, prepared pursuant to the decision taken by the Commission on Transnational Corporations at its second session,

Taking note of the ongoing and future research of the Centre as reflected in the reports of the Secretary-General,

1. Requests the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations to update the report entitled Transnational Banks: Operations, Strategies and Their Effects in Developing Countries, taking into account the changes in this field that have occurred during the 1980s;

2. Requests the Centre to include in that report an analysis of the following issues:

(a) Economic elements behind the determination of interest rates by transnational banks within the system of variable rates;

(b) The role of transnational banks in the transfer of resources from developing to developed countries;

(c) Differences and similarities in the recycling of international liquidity in the 1970s and the 1980s by transnational banks;

(d) Forms and procedures of negotiation of transnational banks vis-a-vis developing countries in relation to external debt;

(e) Interaction between the transnational banks and the International Monetary Fund and other agencies in the negotiation of the external debt of developing countries;

3. Request the Centre to submit the report to the Commission on Transnational Corporations at its thirteenth session.