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Argentina is set to make a debt restructuring proposal to international creditors this week amid delays caused by the coronavirus, an economy ministry source said on Tuesday, a key step as the country looks to strike a deal to avoid default, the Financial Times reported. Argentina’s government is locked in talks to revamp close to $70 billion in foreign currency debt issued under international law to push back payments that it says the country cannot pay unless given time to revive stalled economic growth. “They don’t think it will be tomorrow, it’s more likely on Thursday.

South African Airways has been denied any further funding by its government owner as the national carrier looks for ways to recover from the coronavirus crisis and a local form of bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. The airline’s administrators, who were put in charge in December, were told by the state to instead source cash from available resources, according to a letter they sent to affected parties and to Bloomberg News dated April 14.

Italy’s companies and small businesses desperately need the 740 billion euros ($807 billion) the government pledged to keep the economy afloat through the pandemic recession, Bloomberg New reported. By the time the money arrives, it might be too late. Banks, which have to channel most of the aid to recipients, “have to follow standard procedures because part of the financing risk remains on their books,” said Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffe, professor of business strategy at Bocconi University in Milan. “This normally takes weeks.

The French government was forced to revise its economic and financial forecasts for the second time in less than a week after President Emmanuel Macron extended the lockdown to combat the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. France will base an emergency budget on economic output contracting 8% this year, instead of 6% as it had planned last week. Extra spending to support companies and workers through the confinement will increase the budget deficit, and the situation could get worse still as there are uncertainties about the health crisis in Asia, the economy in the U.S.

Finance ministers and central-bank governors logging in for this week’s virtual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank will say the right thing, promising to work together to confront the economic fallout of the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary. The question is whether they will do the right thing and take concrete steps to allow the necessary cooperation and coordination. Many countries have responded poorly to the pandemic and its economic consequences.

China’s $3 trillion trust industry, a key alternative source of funds for weaker companies, risks sending shock waves through the nation’s financial system with defaults among its investment products predicted to double this year under the strains of the coronavirus outbreak, Bloomberg News reported. The once fast-growing pocket of shadow banking in China has 5.4 trillion yuan ($766 billion) in trust offerings coming due this year, high-yield products backed by loans that are sold to banks, institutional investors and wealthy individuals.

NMC Health Plc’s biggest creditors have set up a coordinating committee, taking a major step toward restructuring the $6.6 billion debt pile of the Middle Eastern hospital operator, Bloomberg News reported. The company asked Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC to chair a coordinating committee of debtholders, NMC’s acting chief executive officer, Michael Davis, wrote in a letter to lenders dated Monday. Deloitte and Clifford Chance LLP have been appointed to advise the committee while Lazard Ltd.

Women's fashion retailers Oasis and Warehouse are expected to appoint administrators soon, putting about 2,300 jobs at risk, BBC News reported. The owner of the High Street brands, Icelandic bank Kaupthing, had been in talks to sell the businesses before the coronavirus crisis. However, the crisis, which has seen many shops temporarily close, has knocked the legs from under the sale. The fashion retailers are expected to appoint Deloitte as administrators.

A recent survey is showing alarming results and points to “a coming crisis” for the City of Vancouver’s finances, according to Mayor Kennedy Stewart, Daily Hive reported. The mayor recently shared the results of an online study conducted by the Research Co., surveying the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Vancouver residents. The survey said that half of Vancouver’s households are reporting an “overall decrease in income,” with 24% experiencing a significant decrease. Nearly half of respondents (46%) said that they had either lost their jobs or were given reduced hours.

Argentina could announce an offer to restructure $83 billion in foreign-currency bonds as soon as this week as it tries to avoid default, despite shutting down the economy to contain the spread of the coronavirus, LatinFinance reported. "We will make the offer in the next few days," President Alberto Fernández said late Sunday in an interview on the local television channel Net TV.