P.M. BRIEFING : Manila Finds Borrowing Difficult

MANILA — The Philippines, rocked by a coup attempt in December, is finding it difficult to meet its borrowing target from foreign commercial banks for 1990, Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao said today.

The Philippines has tried to raise at least $1 billion in new money from commercial banks, but Estanislao told reporters he now expects to get “anywhere between $700 million to $750 million.”

“This is lower than I would have wanted to see because I want the Philippine economy to grow much faster,” he said after a meeting with members of the Cabinet.

“But at the same time I realize now that there is very little new money for medium- and long-term purposes coming from the commercial banks in the international markets,” he added.