South Africa is considering bailing out yet another state-owned company, at a time when it needs all the money it can get to revive an economy felled by the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The National Treasury said Tuesday it’s mulling more aid for the nation’s largest agricultural lender, the Land and Agricultural Development Bank, in the form of a recapitalization and more guarantees on its debt. Last week, the state-owned national airline failed to convince the government it needs extra financial aid, although talks on alternatives for South African Airways continue.

The South African government will work with unions to ensure that a new financially viable and competitive airline emerges from South African Airways (SAA) business rescue process, the Public Enterprises Ministry said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The airline entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December, since then it has had to suspend all commercial passenger flights due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

South African Airways (SAA) is offering severance packages to its entire workforce of around 5,000 workers, a proposal by the airline’s administrators showed, after the government said it wouldn’t provide more funds for rescue efforts, Reuters reported. The proposal, which was put to trade unions this week and hasn’t been agreed with them, is the latest sign that state-owned SAA is on the brink of collapse. Talks with unions will resume on Monday.

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.

South Africa’s central bank slashed its growth forecasts on Monday, predicting the economy could shrink by as much as 4% in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus, which has forced a national lockdown and triggered two credit ratings downgrades, Reuters reported. The bank also said growth was unlikely to exceed 1% in 2021, job losses this year could reach 370,000, and business insolvencies would likely increase by 1,600. While painting a grim outlook, it dampened expectations of the kind of radical stimulus measures Western countries have adopted to tackle it.

South Africa’s rand weakened to a record low, dollar bonds plunged and banking stocks dropped after the country lost its last investment-grade credit rating. Investors anticipate it may slide even deeper into junk as the spread of the coronavirus hammers the economy, Bloomberg News reported. The currency dropped as much as 2.5% to 18.09 per dollar, breaching 18 for the first time. It traded 1.1% down at 17.82 by 12:46 p.m. in Johannesburg, still the worst performance among major emerging-market currencies after the Mexican peso.

South Africa’s banking regulator plans to give banks a break from accounting and capital rules that could release around 300 billion rand ($17 billion) for lending to help the economy cope with the fallout of the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s quite big, it’s quite meaningful,” said Kuben Naidoo, deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank and chief executive officer of the Prudential Authority, in an interview.

South Africa’s Taste Holdings is in the process of placing its food businesses into voluntary liquidation after a failed attempt to offload its Domino’s Pizza franchise, Reuters reported. Taste’s move to liquidate the business comes after South Africa entered its second recession in two years in the final quarter of last year. It will see 770 employees lose their jobs, while 55 stores owned by the company have closed, said Taste, whose food businesses own and license Domino’s Pizza franchises in South Africa.

South Africa’s crowded corporate intensive-care ward has got a new patient. With the state airline bankrupt and the power monopoly burning through its latest bailout, Sasol Ltd., the fuel and chemicals company that’s South Africa’s biggest by revenue, has stumbled into its own debt crisis, Bloomberg News reported. The company was already struggling to keep up with repayments on 162 billion rand ($10 billion) in debt because of a botched U.S. chemical project, when it was blindsided last week a plunge in oil prices.

While international airlines have been blindsided by the impact of the coronavirus on global travel, the outbreak may bring unexpected benefits for South African Airways as it battles to lower costs, Bloomberg News reported. A sharp reduction in international flights has deflated the price of leasing jets and made it easier for state-owned SAA to re-negotiate terms, according to Siviwe Dongwana, one of two administrators hired by the government to draw up a turnaround plan. Equally, this week’s oil-price crash triggered by Saudi Arabia and Russia will lower the cost of fuel, he said.