ABSTRACT
Industrialisation requires the cumulative efforts of several generations. Countries of the South have now entered this phase and many of them are proving that they are capable of producing at internationally competitive prices an increasing range of industrial products. This entrance of the developing countries into the world's production stream has often become an irritant to competitors in developed countries, the more so in a climate that is characterised by a prolonged slowdown of the world economy. Not long ago supply constraints seemed to be the major barrier, but today the developing countries are experiencing a new problem — how to find enough buyers for the products in which they have invested so much and acquired new skills to produce. The irony is that the developing countries, having incurred huge external debts to finance their new industrial plants, now have no option but to continue production in order to service their debt obligations — thus further increasing the worldwide glut in many types of manufactures which but a decade ago had good prospects.
