Brazilian President Jose Sarney formally ended the...

Brazilian President Jose Sarney formally ended the 19-month moratorium on interest payments for Brazil’s $123-billion foreign debt. Brazil’s 1988-89 external financing package with commercial banks is scheduled to be signed today in New York. The government and private creditors said the accord will reschedule some $62 billion of medium- and long-term commercial credits, add $5.6 billion of new loans in various forms and guarantee $15 billion of short-term credits for at least two years. Brazil suspended interest payments in February, 1987, because falling exports left it without sufficient foreign currency.