The Pacific : THE PHILIPPINES

IMF Chief Agrees to Resume Loans: The International Monetary Fund, after seven months of negotiations, has agreed to resume lending to the Philippines, clearing the way for Manila to restructure $5.3 billion of its commercial debt. IMF and Philippine officials said IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus had approved the latest austerity plan aimed at putting the economy back on track after a year of stagnation and high inflation. The Philippines will now move ahead with its proposal to restructure $5.3 billion of its commercial bank debt following the IMF approval. “This clears the last hurdle for finalizing the agreement on the foreign debt reduction initiative that had been tentatively forged in early September, 1991,” Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao said. Central Bank Gov. Jose Cuisia will meet this week in New York with commercial bankers to discuss the package, designed to reduce debt-servicing and retire some debt. The Philippine economy, battered by a series of natural disasters and the impact of the Gulf crisis, recorded zero growth in 1991, but is expected to bounce back to around 3% growth this year. The IMF board must still give its final approval before the IMF can resume lending to the Philippines. Loans were suspended last July when Manila failed to meet various fiscal and monetary targets in return for a $900-million loan package.