1.   Economic advisers in Washington have been discussing whether to downgrade foreign loans.

2.   Foreign-debt servicing is not included in spending, though foreign loans received are included in revenue.

3.   Last month Ivory Coast for the first time missed several key payments on foreign loans.

4.   The Ryzhkov plan is also cautious on foreign loans and investment.

5.   Increasingly, to finance this, the Russian economy was tied to foreign loans and an erratic international money market.

6.   As the rupiah fell, companies facing foreign loan payments scrambled to buy dollars, forcing the rupiah down further.

7.   As the rupiah has fallen in value, companies facing foreign loan payments have scrambled to buy dollars -- forcing the rupiah down further.

8.   Banks have been especially hard hit because weakening Asian currencies against the U.S. dollar increased the cost of debt for companies with foreign loans.

9.   Banks were particularly hard hit because the drop in the value of Asian currencies caused the cost of debt for companies with foreign loans to explode.

10.   A Russian default on foreign loans would make it that much harder for many years to come for a cash-starved Russia to receive credits.