51�Թ�

Nor is there any real sanction that Nato can impose on defaulters.

"How can the worst serial defaulter in the emerging markets asset class continue to receive preferential treatment compared to other EM nations with macroeconomic troubles?" said Walter Stoeppelwerth, chief strategist at financial firm Gletir SA.

"Hopefully they are using the time they've bought themselves in recent days to work out a proper restructuring plan so we don't have the same extended uncertainty we had with earlier defaulters," he said.

Argentina - a serial defaulter which has long battled high inflation, currency weakness and indebtedness - struck a $57 billion deal with the IMF in 2018 to try and fix its economic woes.

At least 15 of the 90 defaulters accumulated debts for two consecutive years.