At least two Brazilian airlines and planemaker Embraer SA have hired investment banks to help with talks with state development bank BNDES for government support, sources with knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported. Embraer has hired Itau BBA, the investment banking unit of Itau Unibanco Holding SA, two sources said. Embraer is seeking credit lines between $1 billion and $1.5 billion after a deal with Boeing Co fell through. Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported earlier on Wednesday that Embraer hired Itau BBA.

Argentina’s government said it’s open to new proposals from it’s creditors to restructure $65 billion in debt, signaling a greater willingness to negotiate in talks to avoid another chaotic default, Bloomberg News reported. “We are willing to consider any combination of reduction of interest, reduction of principal, extension and maturity of grace period that respects the constraints that define what is sustainable,” Economy Minister Martin Guzman told Bloomberg News in an interview, two days before a government’s offer to bondholders expires.

Argentina’s economy minister has sought to raise the stakes with the country’s bondholders by suggesting his government would consider defaulting on $65bn of foreign debt unless investors engaged in negotiations to alleviate its financial burden while tackling the coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Times reported.

Solvency concerns in the developing world are nothing new. But as governments stare down the humanitarian and economic shocks of the coronavirus pandemic, some emerging markets with weak financial positions are at greater risk of defaulting on their debts, Bloomberg News reported. At least 102 nations have already asked the International Monetary Fund for help, and the Institute of International Finance is coordinating an effort to offer some relief to the poorest countries.

Argentina is entering a crucial period this month for a precarious debt-restructuring process that will determine whether or not the country falls into default for a third time in just two decades, Reuters reported. After months of negotiations, the South American country made a proposal in April to restructure $65 billion of its foreign debt. This offer expires on May 8, while a grace period for paying interest on three dollar bonds ends on May 22.

The International Monetary Fund on Saturday confirmed it had approved $643 million in emergency assistance for Ecuador, but said the Andean country would need additional support from other external partners to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus and plummeting oil prices and global demand were having a devastating effect on Ecuador, one of the largest oil exporters in Latin America, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

Argentina is willing to keep working toward a deal to restructure its debt if an offer that expires on Friday is rejected, the economy minister said. Economy Minister Martin Guzman told Argentine daily Clarin in an interview published on Sunday that he is seeing a “growing understanding” with bondholders ahead of a May 8 deadline for the offer that creditor groups already criticized, Bloomberg News reported. “We believe that the process in these days has been positive, yet it is still lacking and the dialog will continue,” Guzman said.

Some of Argentina’s key creditors are rejecting invitations to speak with the nation’s finance team this week as both sides jockey for more favorable terms in a $65 billion debt restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. Tensions are building as the clock counts down on two key deadlines: May 8 for a debt-exchange offer and May 22, when a 30-day grace period for coupon payments on dollar bonds maturing in 2021, 2026 and 2046 expires. To close a deal, the South American nation needs support from creditors owning at least two-thirds of the aggregate holdings.

Argentina’s latest effort to restructure its overseas debt probably won’t be its last, according to Harvard University economist Carmen Reinhart, who has sounded alarms over coming emerging markets crises in Venezuela and Turkey, Bloomberg News reported. If anything, she said in an interview, Argentina’s initial offer merely kicks the can down the road. It will need to be revisited in a few years given the impact of the pandemic on the global economy, she said.

Argentina and the province of Buenos Aires will start setting up virtual meetings this week with institutional investors as they continue the process of restructuring more than $76 billion in debt, according to people familiar with the plan, Bloomberg News reported. The national government will call on about 20 institutions and funds -- including BlackRock, Ashmore and Fintech’s David Martinez -- to present its offer to restructure $69 billion in debt, the people said asking not to be named because the the plan isn’t public yet.