The Philippine Central Bank said it will tap its foreign-exchange reserves to pay maturing obligations in the first half of 2001. At the same time, the central bank said it will postpone indefinitely a plan to borrow funds from a group of local and foreign banks. Central Bank Gov. Rafael Buenaventura said the bank must pay maturing obligations of $400 million in February 2001 and $425 million in April 2001.

Disappointing conditions in the international-debt market have prevented the central bank