P.M. BRIEFING : Japan Banks Make Soviet Loan

TOKYO — Five Japanese commercial banks have lent the Soviet Union $400 million to buy steel pipes and pay for goods imported from Japan, the economic newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported today.

Nihon Keizai said the loans were extended to the Soviet government-owned Soviet Bank of Foreign Economic Affairs, but it did not identify the Japanese banks. It also did not report the interest rate but said the loans would be repaid in 10 installments over five years.

The Soviet Union is to use half the money to pay for industrial materials it has bought from Japan and the rest to import 105,000 tons of seamless pipes and 80,000 tons of large-diameter steel pipes for the development of oil resources, Nihon Keizai said.