European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 7, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Do monday april 7, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9may ease Cross Washington a . Officials Are claiming the 6-month-old Reagan administration strategy for easing the global debt crisis with an infusion of new Loans May be starting to jell and plummeting Oil prices could be helping. Still commercial Banks while voicing support for the plan in general terms have yet to come up with a cent of the additional Money it envisions. It was never contemplated that you would solve a problem that was 10 or 15 years in the making in six months Treasury Secretary James a. Baker Iii said in an interview. We did t get into this problem overnight and we Are not going to get out of it overnight. But i think nevertheless that there has been reason ably healthy Progress on the plan for $29 billion in new Loans for developing nations Over the next three years he added. Baker spoke on the eve of a month of High level eco nomic conferences beginning in Washington on monday with a we Klong meeting of finance ministers of 149 nations and culminating in Early May in Tokyo at the annual seven nation economic Summit. Evaluation of what has become known As the Baker plan is expected to be a major Agenda item for this week s policy meeting of the world Bank and the International monetary fund. The plan which was first outlined by Baker at a world Bank if meeting in Seoul Korea last oct. 7, Calls for $20 billion in new lending from commercial Banks to developing nations most of them in latin America. The remaining $9 billion would come from multilateral lending organizations such As the world Bank. To receive the funds the countries would have to agree to make certain policy changes to attract investment and to Spur growth thereby making it easier for them to pay Back about $450 billion they already owe. While commercial Banks have yet to Budge the world Bank late last week announced the first loan of this kind to a major debtor nation since Baker outlined the strategy a $350 million 15-year loan to Argentina. The loan will help Argentina revise the method with which it taxes agriculture enabling that nation to boost its farm exports by $1 billion a year Bank officials said. Similar Loans Are expected to follow including a $500 million loan to Mexico and a loan of about $300 million to Colombia the officials said. The recent plunge in world Oil prices while aggravating the debt crisis for Oil producing nations like Mexico promises to help ease the Overall problem and May make it easier to persuade Banks to loan debtor nations the extra Money Baker and other officials contend. Overall i think it the Oil Price drop will be beneficial in terms of the debt problem because there will be More principal debtor nations who Are beneficially affected than debtor nations who Are detrimentally affected Baker said. But clearly it will have a detrimental effect with respect to Mexico Verte Zuela and Nigeria. There is no question about that he added. The Oil Price plunge will make life far easier for the debtor nations that do not produce Oil says Michael Young an economist for Chase Econometrics a private forecasting firm. Not Only have you reduced their import Bill and increased their balance of payments but the lower interest rates and inflation that come with the lower Oil prices mean that their debt service Burden has gone  and even the Oil exporting countries will reap the Bene fits of the lower interest rates and inflation offsetting much of their lost Oil revenues he added. Despite the Lack of new Loans from commercial Banks administration officials and Many International economists claim it is Only a matter of time before the Money starts flowing again. Generally smaller Banks would rather write off such Loans instead of making new ones while larger Banks have Security training under Way in Japan a photo policewomen catch their assailants during a Drill in Tokyo. The Japan National police Agency is conducting Security exercises in preparation for Tokyo s economic so much tied up already that they have Little real Choice but to make further Loans if reluctantly and Hope it will Lessen the Chance of defaults analysts say. There Are two ways the Banks will Start lending again persuasion and coercion said Richard e. Fein Berg vice president of the overseas development Council a private Liberal research organization that focuses on third world problems. He said it May take a combination of both. Some of the debtor nations have also expressed some Lack of enthusiasm for the plan claiming that the funds would not be enough or the strings attached to them too Many. It is politically difficult for some of these countries to concede publicly that they Are embracing the Baker initiative or taking advantage of the proposal because they Don t want to be in the attitude of having their economic policy being dictated by Uncle Sam conceded an administration official. Baker s proposal also would expand the Mission of the Summit May 4-6. Tight Security measures will be enforced to protect the leaders of the seven industrialized nations participating in the conference. World Bank. Fewer Loans would be made for roads and dams and More to support growth oriented policy changes such As the one to Argentina. Bank vice president David Knox said that policy Loans like those called for by Baker will comprise 30 percent to 33 percent of world Bank lending this year up from 15 percent last year. Also expected to be on the Agenda of this week s meet ing Are issues involving International Exchange rates and Trade. Finance ministers and Central Bankers from the five largest non communist world economies the United states Japan Germany France and Britain Are also expected to hold a separate meeting this week to review efforts to stabilize the value of the Dollar against other major currencies. And Many of the same issues Are Likely to be raised again at a 22-nation organization of economic cooperation and development conference in Paris the week of april 13. Christians have right to fight Vatican says Vatican City a the Vatican in a major document on the social role of the roman Catholic Church said saturday that christians have the right to fight unjust governments and even resort to armed Strug Gle to put an end to an obvious and prolonged  at the same time it reiterated that the pastors of the Church must not intervene directly in the political construction and organization of social life. It would be criminal to take the energies of popular piety and misdirect them toward a purely earthly plan of liberation said the 59-Page document entitled instruction on Christian Freedom and  the document dated March 22 and approved by Pope John Paul ii was drawn up by the congregation for the doctrine of the Faith the Vatican s watchdog Over deviations from the Church doctrines and teachings. It largely reiterates positions previously taken by the Church. Nonetheless Vatican officials said the document represents the first comprehensive guidelines binding on local churches and their leaders on How Bishops priests and roman catholics should pursue the Church s Mission of seeking Freedom and liberation in the modern world. It was prompted in part by widespread confusion Cre ated by liberation theology a movement born in latin America which sometimes uses marxist analysis to sup port social activism by priests and nuns in third world countries. Questions also had been raised Over the Active political role by Bishops in several countries including Nicaragua the Philippines and the Pope s native Poland. The document does not cite any specific local problems but it gives authority to Bishops to make direct provision for them in consultations with one another and the vat ican