FRANC ZONE MINISTERS CALL FOR MORE AID
Finance ministers from African countries
in the French franc currency zone called for more aid from the
international banking community at a meeting here last Friday,
the French finance ministry said in a statement.
    The talks, held to prepare for this week's International
Monetary Fund interim committee meeting in Washington,
underlined that a considerable decline in bank aid to
developing nations was a major source of worry.
    The ministers noted that this decline was contrary to
expectations on debt strategy which emerged from the October
1985 IMF general assembly in Seoul.
    "Even if to a certain extent the efforts of banks can be
helped out by those of private investors, the contribution of
the international banking community remains indispensable," the
statement said.
    They underlined the need, given present circumstances, for
a new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to relieve
tensions on the exchange reserves of numerous developing
countries, the statement added without elaborating.
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