The World - News from July 5, 1989

Brazil, worried about dwindling cash reserves, missed an $812-million interest payment on its $112-billion foreign debt, but the government denied it plans to declare a new moratorium. Brazil owes about $9 billion to creditors in the so-called Paris Club of 10 top industrialized nations. A Finance Ministry spokeswoman said the government had postponed a payment for one week because of “operative problems.” The delay in current payments comes as the central bank, Brazil’s equivalent of the U.S. Federal Reserve, is attempting to stem the outflow of money from the country and keep currency reserves from falling below a critical level.