Brazil asked for a deferral of principal payments.

The Third World’s largest debtor country asked its international bank creditors for a new 180-day deferral of principal payments on about $70 billion in debt while it negotiates a new accord with the International Monetary Fund. Brazil is maintaining its interest payments and other service charges on the debt, which is slightly more than $100 billion. Among the debtors are private banks, governments and multilateral banks such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Brazil said that servicing the debt costs it about $13 billion a year.