COFFEE PRICE DROP NOT AFFECTING COLOMBIA'S DEBT

  the sharp fall in international coffee
  prices will not affect colombia's external credit situation,
  finance minister cesar gaviria told reuters.
      "our foreign debt is high, but we can pay, and I hope the
  foreign banking community will maintain its position toward us,"
  he said.
      He said the current decline on world coffee markets was not
  totally unexpected and would have no immediate bearing on
  colombia's financial state, which he described as sound.
      Gaviria said the decline in coffee prices could mean a loss
  of 1.5 billion dlrs in revenues for 1987.
      The conservative party and the country's largest trade
  union called this week for the debt to be rescheduled following
  the price drop.
      Colombia, the only major latin american country not to have
  rescheduled its external public debt, has a total foreign debt
  of 13.6 billion dlrs.
  

