BRAZIL WILL LIFT MORATORIUM ONLY AFTER BANK PACT
Brazil will only lift the partial
moratorium on its 113-billion-dlr foreign debt after an accord
is reached with the private banks, the Finance Ministry said in
a statement.
    The statement said such agreement, currently being
negotiated, must place the debt "within the terms proposed by
Brazil on September 25."
    Brazil proposed to the private creditors a refinancing of
the interest on its foreign debt that have expired or will
expire up to 1989, totalling an overall 10.4 billion dlrs.
    Brazil also proposed the end of spreads and conversion into
bonds of part of the 70-billion dlrs owed to private banks.
    Brazil in February stopped interest payments on about 68
billion dlrs owed to private banks, and the Ministry statement
issued on Monday said this would only be lifted "when an accord
is reached."
    The statement said that a token payment, which banks want
from the Brazil as a condition to discuss an agreement, "will
only be made when there is a major progress in the
negotiations."
    Meanwhile, a World Bank mission arrived on Monday to
analyse the performance of the Brazilian economy after the new
plan launched in July by Finance Minister Luiz Carlos Bresser
Pereira.
 Reuter
