A debt package is needed by then to help renegotiate the agreement.

The reports, the bankers said, could cause financial disruptions in Mexico because agreement on a debt package is crucial to the country's economic growth.

Even the famous ratings agencies did not spot the toxic debt packages which started this slump off.

The company announced late in the day that it had secured a $2 billion debt package with its bankers.

Banking sources said Argentina had won conditions similar to those of Mexico's debt package last year.

Under the complex debt package, American and other foreign banks are offered a range of options.

It is what Mexico has done since in policy reform that makes sense in its debt package.

The $8 billion was part of a $13 billion debt package that Pretoria reached in 1987 with some 350 foreign banks.

A $100 million reserve fund was included in the debt package to cover the shortfall.

Wang Laboratories said it had agreed on a new debt package with its banks and would immediately make some payments.