ABSTRACT
The Latin American economies have faced very different scenarios regarding their access to external financial resources. Scarcity of funds during the 1950s, a substantial increase in the supply of financial flows by private international banks during the 1970s, and again a stage of restrictive conditions since 1982. The work looks at the external causes that made possible these different situations linking them to the particular conditions taking place in the developed countries. For example, the stagnation of industrial growth that took place in these countries during the 1970s and the external deficit showed by the US economy can help to explain the expansion in the supply of funds available to Third World countries during that decade. On the other hand, the changes showed by the US economy since the end 1970s can also help to explain the deep changes in the supply of funds available to Latin America. Some references to the future are also attempted.
Keywords:
External financial resources; external debt; international flows of capital