PHILIPPINES HEADS CONFIDENTLY INTO DEBT TALKS
Philippine Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin
starts negotiations with the country's 12-bank advisory
committee in New York tomorrow, buoyed by an economy on the
mend and political stability one year after President Corazon
Aquino took power, central bank officials said.
    The country now has foreign debt totalling 27.8 billion
dlrs and faces debt repayments of 3.6 billion dlrs due between
January 1987 and December 1992. Manila also hopes to tack on
another 5.8 billion dlrs, rescheduled in a 1985 accord, to any
new agreement, the officials said.
    Chile's 15-1/2 year rescheduling accord at one percentage
point over London Interbank Offered Rates (LIBOR) and
Venezuala's 21 billion dlr package at 7/8 point over LIBOR
portend well for the Philippines, despite Brazil's repayment
suspension last week, the officials said.
    Manila, which has not made any principal repayments since
1983, wants terms better than the 20-year repayments at 13/16
percentage point over LIBOR offered in October to Mexico in a
77 billion dlr rescue.
    Ongpin wants 5/8 point over the benchmark rate, which is
currently hovering around 6-1/2 pct.
    The banks are said to be firm on the 1-1/8 points offered
when the last round of negotiations collapsed on November 7.
    Ongpin said every 1/16 point over LIBOR meant an additional
5.1 mln dlrs in annual interest payments.
    One banker said banks were wary of repeating a Mexico-type
accord, which some 70 small creditor banks are still refusing
to endorse five months after it was signed.
    In Manila's case, about 40 pct of the 15 billion dlrs
outstanding to commercial banks is owed to the 12 large banks
on the advisory committee, while about 180 smaller banks have
average exposures of 20 mln dlrs each.
 REUTER
