Swiss say West's bankers may help on Polish debt

Swiss banking sources said Thursday that Western banks will probably try to find some means of meeting Poland's request for $350 million to help pay interest on its debts, despite opposition in the United States.

The request has set off a new round of intensive consultations among Western banks which do not want to see Poland default on its debt repayments but are wary of increasing their risk by lending more money.

Banking sources in New York said the six American banks approached about the loan planned to refuse the latest Polish request. US banks consistently took a tougher line than Western European banks in earlier negotiations on proposals to delay payment on the $2.4 billion Polish debt due this year