Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

Puerto Rico’s latest fiscal plan anticipates a temporary return to economic growth and a potential $30 billion surplus over the next 15 years thanks in part to billions of expected federal disaster aid that may help lift the bankrupt island from a 12-year recession, Bloomberg reported.

President Trump attacked Puerto Rico’s “inept politicians,” accusing them of trying to funnel “ridiculously high” levels of federal disaster assistance toward paying down a $73 billion debt load in his latest confrontation with the U.S. territory’s leadership, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported.

Thousands of Puerto Ricans have been forced to drain their savings, close their businesses, or resign themselves to living with structural damage as they fight insurance companies over millions of dollars’ worth of claims that have gone unanswered or unpaid more than a year after Hurricane Maria, the Associated Press reported.

Puerto Rico bonds rallied yesterday after the commonwealth’s federal oversight board published an updated fiscal plan that apparently acknowledged a greater ability to repay its debt than had been previously estimated, Bloomberg News reported.