ABSTRACT
Most oil-importing developing nations sustained a heavy burden of adjustment to the oil price rises of 1973–1974 and 1979. Rapid inflation has accompanied the attempts to adjust, with annual rates of price changes in middle-income oil-importing countries standing at over 40% in 1980 and approaching 20% in low-income oil-importing countries. The most obvious and direct impact of lower oil prices will be on the balance of payments via reduced import bills. Bangladesh lost heavily from the movement in the terms of trade which fell by 50% from 1970 to 1978. As an almost entirely agricultural nation, the Sudan depends critically upon its exports of cotton and crops of groundnuts, sesame and dura. Sudan has discovered oil in the Sudd region and drilling is also taking place elsewhere, notably on the Red Sea coast. Brazil meets some 75% of its energy demand from commercial energy sources.
