Argentina registered to issue more than $50 billion in new debt as it prepares to make a painful restructuring offer to holders of its sovereign bonds, Bloomberg News reported. The filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission gives an inkling of how much in new securities the country anticipates issuing in the restructuring. President Alberto Fernandez will meet provincial governors at 4pm Thursday at the presidential residence to discuss details of the debt plan, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Via Varejo SA, one of Brazil’s largest appliance retailers, is seeking to suspend rent payments for over 1,020 stores to help offset a 50% revenue drop, two people with knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported. One of the people said the company has already reached an agreement with some landlords and expects to get group agreements with other retailers that would exempt it from paying rent on its stores located in malls for as long as they are shut by the coronavirus lockdowns.

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.

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.

Brazilian businesses, desperate for government aid to weather the pandemic, aren’t getting much help from a state lender that used to shell out more than the World Bank, Bloomberg News reported. In past crises, state development bank BNDES would have been quick to flood the market, swelling its loan books by 30% a year to keep the economy afloat. Now, the bank’s top executive -- tasked with dramatically scaling back the state’s role -- has to navigate a world where governments are suddenly turning on the fiscal taps like never before.

Argentina will make an offer to its creditors “in the coming days” that will reflect the economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic, President Alberto Fernandez said in a newspaper interview. While debt talks are “going well,” calculations of debt sustainability will be affected by the impact of the virus, Fernandez was quoted as saying by Perfil. “The coronavirus affects debt renegotiation just as the coronavirus affects the entire global economy,” Fernandez said. “What we are going to sign is something that we can accomplish as a government and as a country.

Brazilian banks may have to extend a moratorium on loan payments by consumers and small businesses beyond an initial two-month time frame, Banco Bradesco SA’s chief executive said on Wednesday, as the coronavirus crisis squeezes Latin America’s biggest economy, Reuters reported. CEO Octavio de Lazari became the latest top Brazilian banker to warn that existing measures to help the country’s small businesses and consumers may need to last longer given the gravity of the crisis. In March, Brazilian banks paused retail debt payments for two months amid the crisis caused by the coronavirus.

Latin America’s economy was already going backward when the coronavirus hit. Now it’s at risk of losing a whole decade –- and pushing fragile democracies closer to their breaking points, Bloomberg News reported. Like most of the world, the region is bracing for the deepest recession in its modern history. Bank of America expects a 4.4% slump in output this year as the epidemic spreads. But what’s distinctive about Latin America is that incomes had already been declining for years –- driven in part by lower commodity prices.

As the coronavirus crisis deepens in emerging economies around the world, collapsing currencies, commodity prices, export earnings and tourism revenues threaten to shred the finances of many governments, leaving them scrambling to avoid default, the Financial Times reported. Zambia has already called in advisers to restructure its debt while Ecuador has asked for more time to make coupon payments on three dollar bonds. Few analysts believe they will be the last.

Argentina unilaterally postponed until next year the payment on $10bn of dollar-denominated debt governed by local law on Monday in what some analysts have called a technical default, the Financial Times reported. The move has raised new concerns about Argentina’s approach to debt restructuring as it negotiates the fate of $83bn in debt issued under foreign law. Private sector investors holding that debt expect an offer to be made by the centre-left government of President Alberto Fernández as soon as this week.