Many short-term lenders declined to renew their loans, driving Bear to the brink of default.

FORBES: Reducing Systemic Risk

If creditors lose faith in their borrowers, they will demand the repayment of existing debt or refuse to renew old loans.

ECONOMIST: Repent at leisure

Surviving institutions would then use their government cash to make new loans rather than simply to renew or write off old ones.

ECONOMIST: Japanese banks

Its response was to forbid public companies, after July 30, 2002, to make or even arrange new loans to executives or to modify or renew old ones.

FORBES: The Lending Game

As a practical matter, Moscow's ability to attract interbank deposits, renew short-term credit lines and secure Western loans has been sharply curtailed by the Soviet Union's non-creditworthy status and its massive arrearages to Western firms.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy