POLAND RENEWS PARIS CLUB DEBT TALKS
Poland met the Paris Club of western
creditor nations for renewed talks on rescheduling its debt
repayments but no conclusive result was expected, diplomatic
sources said.
    They said the discussions, led on the Polish side by deputy
Finance Minister Andrzej Doroscz, were to renew contacts agreed
after an inconclusive meeting in January and the talks were
described as a "technical meeting."
    The January talks focussed on the rescheduling of about 500
mln dlrs of interest and principal due by end-1986 and also
touched upon delays in debt repayments recheduled previously.
    Poland has a 33.5 billion dollar debt to western creditor
countries and commercial banks and has already indicated it
will not be able to meet interest payments this year after
falling behind for the past two years.
    "The Paris Club is demanding repayment but Poland needs new
credits and has made certain supplementary proposals, but it is
up to the Club to show an initiative," one of the diplomatic
sources said without elaborating.
    Poland is still continuing a dialogue with the
International Monetary Fund but this is progressing slowly, the
source said.
    One diplomatic source said the key to Poland's debt problem
lay in London, saying that the commercial bank creditors there
must take a practical position before a Paris Club decision.
    "But their position seems to be hardening," the source said.
"One really cannot expect a positive conclusion to today's
talks," the source added.
 REUTER
