30?. Little or no actual. improvenent in saving performance has occurred during thefirst haLf of the Third f,ieveropment Decade. rn the earry l98os the world-niderecession reduced the denand for oil and its price ferl ae a time when consumptionwas rising rapidty in the petroleum-expor ting developing countries. As a result,cheir rate of saving fell dramaticaLly, and as a group they began importingcapital. Austerity Programmes implemented by alebtor developing councries did causea rise in saving through the adverse effect of lhose programmes on incomes andspending but the extraordinary changes in expenditure patterns induced by thesepolicies cannot be regarded as either peraEnent or desirable. 303. With lhe exception of the capital surplus energy -expor ti ng economies, where more savings were generated than these economies could use, many developr,ngcountries L'ere heavily dependent durlng the first Deveropment Decade on inflor.rs offoreign financiar resources to finance their increased pace of capitar fornation.Althouqh the share of inflows of foreign capital from abroad remained high in thegroup of developing countries as a whol-e, sone success eas registered in the 1960sin Lim[ting this dependence. fn the I9ZOS, on the other hand, large savinqssurpluses were generated in the capital surplus economies but Chese were more thanoffset by growing savings deficits in other groups of aleveloping countries.Moreover' for both internal and external reasons e:(port proceeds grew srowly andwere extremely unstable, especially after 1973, and instead of providi.ng a sourceof steady denand for stab],e economic growth, they disrupted production and read tofluctuations in the capacity of some developing countries to lmport. similarly, astrong demand for imports generated persistent ba la nce-of-payments pressures.
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the economic development of developing countries, specifically the performance of their savings and capital formation during the first half of the Third Development Decade. It highlights the challenges faced by these countries in terms of dependence on foreign capital, fluctuating export proceeds, and balance-of-payments pressures. The text also touches on the impact of austerity programs on savings and expenditure patterns.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade