The IPC has secured an additional $47 million in funding from Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and said the government will bring in up to $31 million of sponsorship from state-run companies.

The workforce for the Paralympics will be downsized, and transport services cut and media centres closed.

Now athletes will be given delayed travel grants with at least 10 countries just struggling to get to Rio.

"Never before in the 56-year history of the Paralympic Games have we faced circumstances like this", Sir Philip Craven, president of the IPC, told a news conference in Rio.

The IPC said it has already sought to reduce costs over the past year and the new, deeper "major budget cuts" will affect every team and visitors to the games. However sales for the Paralympics have been even worse.

Added to the cuts, the Games faces public apathy.

The wheelchair fencing competition, for example, will take place within the Olympic Park rather than at a special destination location, so that the previously designated location can be "closed and dismantled", a statement from the committee said.

Craven did admit that 10 nations were now unable to afford to travel to Rio but promised to find a way to get them there.

He said organisers were hoping to sell two million tickets by the time the Games start.

The initial payments that ensure full participation from all 165 participating countries were meant to be awarded in July, and the delay could be fatal.

The first - and by far the biggest issue - is the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee did not deliver all the funding it promised to the Paralympic Games.

He added: "We are working desperately hard to protect athlete services, especially within the field of play".

"They have dedicated their lives to reaching these Games and we will do our utmost to try to maintain the service levels and scope that they expect at a Paralympic Games".

"This movement has most certainly not gone back [wards]", he proclaimed, denying Paralympic athletes had returned to being treated as second-class citizens in comparison to their Olympic counterparts.

"I believe the performances of the Para athletes will act as a catalyst for social change".

"I am fully confident Rio 2016 will be the best Games ever in terms of athletic performance", said Craven, determined to strike a positive note. "It is huge concern because we want to make sure all the athletes that have qualified to represent their country at the Paralympic Games get a chance to compete on the world stage".

It serves as a stark contrast to the London 2012 Paralympics, which drew unprecedented numbers of supporters.

'The IPC's announcement makes clear that there is major risk to that. "It's what the athletes deserve and it is what the athletes want after years of training and dedication".