not all countries can assume that such favourable developments in their export revenues will last much longer while net food exporting countries are likely to continue to benefit from a favourable external environment a prolonged global economic slowdown could well have less favourable outcomes for exporters of energy commodities and base metals many of which are in africa and central and west asia and where recent distributional changes have already been less favourable than those in many latin american countries however most of their activities have focused on simple labourintensive activities and they have been unable to ignite or sustain a dynamic process of industrial deepening