OTHER NEWS - Feb. 24, 1992

International Borrowing Hits New High: The volume of debt floated on international financial markets hit a record high last year, and a boom in bonds seems likely to continue in 1992, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In its thrice-yearly report on financial market trends, the OECD said that the 19% rise in gross borrowing in 1991 was remarkable, given a sickly world economy and shocks to the market generated by the Gulf War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Borrowing totaled $518 billion, against $435 billion in 1990. The OECD said the annual growth rate was the highest since the mid-1980s and more than reversed a 6.8% falloff in 1990. Lower interest rates, low inflation and the start of a world economic recovery would, if all materialize, favor continued growth in international borrowing, the OECD said.