PHILIPPINES CLINCHES DEBT DEAL, SOURCE SAYS
The Philippines has reached agreement
with its bank advisory committee on a debt-rescheduling
agreement after four weeks of talks, a source close to the
Philippine delegation said.
    No details were available and bankers were not available to
comment because meetings with the Philippine negotiators were
still in progress.
    But a spokesman for Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co, which
chairs the 12-bank Philippine advisory committee, said a press
conference with finance minister Jaime Ongpin will begin at the
bank's headquarters at 1430 EST/1930 GMT.
    "There is an agreement," the source close to the Philippine
delegation said, adding that details would be announced at the
press conference.
    Manila wants to reschedule about 3.6 billion dlrs of debt
that falls due between 1987 and 1992 and to obtain easier terms
on 5.8 billion dlrs of previously restructured debt.
    The talks have dragged on because of the banks' reluctance
to accept interest payments partly in Philippine Investment
Notes, PINs, instead of cash and because of Manila's insistence
on an interest rate margin close to the 5/8 pct spread over
Eurocurrency rates that it initially demanded.
 Reuter
