Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

Debt from Puerto Rico is the top-performing bond investment of 2018, reflecting an unexpected improvement in the island’s economy and budding hopes for a settlement with creditors to resolve its continuing bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported. Most U.S.

The House Natural Resources Committee is investigating allegations of corruption against Puerto Rico’s state-run, bankrupt power utility, which has struggled to manage the restoration of power on the island after Hurricane Maria, the Washington Examiner reported.

Lawyers asked a U.S. District Court overseeing the commonwealth’s bankruptcy case to approve $75 million in funds for legal and consulting fees and another $2 million in expenses, the Washington Post reported. And that covers May 3 through Sept. 30, the first five months of the case. Another five months have passed since then.

Nearly 500,000 people left Puerto Rico for the mainland during the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center, pushing the stateside Puerto Rican population past the number living on the island last year — an estimated 3.3 million. The government of Puerto Rico’s guess is that by the end of 2018, 200,000 more residents will have left the U.S.