IIF EXECUTIVE SEES INTEREST RATES DECLINING
Institute of International Finance
Managing Director Horst Schulmann said that his orgnaization
has been forecasting further declines of interest rates in the
first half this year and then a levelling off and there is no
reason to change that.
    Speaking to reporters, the bank research group said that
the increase in interest rates announced yesterday and other
activity in the foreign exchange markets did not indicate a
fundamental change in the outlook.
    Schulmann, speaking broadly about the global debt problem,
said that the International Monetary Fund should increase its
assistance to third world countries.
    The remarks come just before next week's meeting of the
IMF's Interim Committee and the Joint Development Committee of
the IMF and World Bank.
    In a letter to the committee's, the bank group said,
"Commercial banks cannot be the dominant supplier of balance of
payments finance."
    Schulmann said that IMF exposure peaked in 1985 and has
declined a bit since then.
 Reuter
