A funding crisis risks getting worse for Argentina’s government unless it can strike deals with a mix of local, foreign and multilateral creditors who are owed $101bn of debt, the Financial Times reported. Last week Mauricio Macri, the country’s embattled president, announced that the country had postponed payment on $7bn of short-term local debt for up to six months and was seeking a “voluntary reprofiling” of $50bn of longer-term debt, the majority of which is held by foreign investors.

The sell-off in Argentina bonds is so severe that it may soon attract distressed-debt investors betting that there’s money to be made in a restructuring. With overseas notes trading at about 38 cents on the dollar, the vulture funds are probably still a ways from swooping in, Bloomberg News reported. Shops including Morgan Stanley and Merian Global Investors expect buyers with a strong appetite for risk will emerge at about 30 cents.

President Mauricio Macri’s administration is preparing to send plans to Congress on Monday to reschedule Argentina’s long-term debt, after rating agencies said the country had defaulted on its short-term obligations last week, the Financial Times reported. The measures are part of Mr Macri’s attempts to stave off a full-blown debt crisis by changing the repayments schedule for up to $50bn of obligations.

Embattled president Mauricio Macri tried to shore up confidence in Argentina after the country asked creditors for more time to pay $101bn of debts, but market analysts said the move pointed to a ninth sovereign default by the South American nation, the Financial Times reported. The peso slid and bonds sold off on Thursday as investors judged the hasty move insufficient to solve the country’s financial woes.

Argentina’s government is seeking to extend maturities on tens of billions of dollars of debt and delay repayments to the International Monetary Fund after a collapse in the peso and its bonds, Bloomberg News reported. The government will postpone $7 billion of payments on short-term local notes held by institutional investors this year and will seek the “voluntary reprofiling‘’ of $50 billion of longer-term debt, Economy Minister Hernan Lacunza said. It will also start talks over the repayment of $44 billion it has received from the IMF.

Argentina investors scorched by one of the worst sell-offs in the history of emerging markets are banking on the International Monetary Fund to buy the country some time, Bloomberg News reported. IMF officials are visiting Buenos Aires and will give their recommendation within weeks on whether to disburse another $5.3 billion to the country from a record bailout approved in 2018.

Argentine executives and graduates shocked by President Mauricio Macri’s drubbing in elections this month have begun calling and emailing in droves in search of work in Brazil, Chile and Colombia, head hunters and visa advisers told Reuters. Executive search specialists say the resumes that have deluged their offices in those countries reached a peaked after Macri lost ground to a centre-left Peronist challenger in the Aug. 11 primary elections, causing the peso to plummet in value, Reuters reported. Leftist Alberto Fernandez is now the front-runner ahead of an Oct.

The International Monetary Fund’s record loan to Argentina last year was supposed to turn the page on a troubled history, Bloomberg News reported. It’s looking more like a case of déjà vu. Less than two decades ago, Argentina crashed out of an IMF program, defaulted on debt and plunged into depression. As Fund officials arrived in Buenos Aires over the weekend to assess the country’s current $56 billion bailout –- and decide whether to keep doling out cash -- some of the same warning signals are flashing.

Trading Argentine bonds has become a test of endurance as the prospect of a possible default triggers wild price swings and volume dries up, Bloomberg News reported. The Liquidity Assessment Scale of 1 to 100 (100 being the most liquid) slumped to 12 on Wednesday for the South American nation’s bonds from 68 just three weeks ago. “There is a lot of hysteria in the market and it is causing a lot of uncertainty on valuations,” said Jason Devito, a Pittsburg-based money manager at Federated Investment Mgmt Co., which has $502 billion under management.

Less than two years after Argentina made a splash in markets by selling a $2.75 billion, 100-year bond, another debt restructuring is a real possibility after President Mauricio Macri was routed in a primary election, Bloomberg News reported. Money managers and analysts from firms including Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. say investors are likely to recoup less than 40 cents on the dollar on its notes if Argentina reneges on its debt for the third time in two decades.