Puerto Rico’s chronic inability to fully tap into federal funding has short-changed the island out of millions in competitive grants and loans available for a cross-section of activities, a top government official said recently.
The Economic Development Bank on Thursday announced a partnership with the Puerto Rico Community Pharmacies Association to launch a new product to help promote the sector’s growth through financing new and existing operations.
Fitch Ratings downgraded Wednesday the rating on $8.7 billion of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s power revenue bonds to “BB” from “BB+,” putting them at junk level. In addition, Fitch also placed the “BB” classification on rating watch negative.
Puerto Rico Treasury Secretary Melba Acosta-Febo said today that preliminary General Fund revenue collections for May totaled $753 million, exceeding collections for the same month of last year by $141 million, or 23 percent, and beating estimates by $29 million.
The Puerto Rico Treasury Department has pushed back the start of collections of Sales and Use Tax (known as IVU in Spanish) for merchandise coming through the island’s ports by a month, to Aug. 1, agency officials said Monday.
As part of an initiative to promote the development of micro-enterprises and self-employment among Puerto Rico’s low-income residents, the Economic Development Bank has partnered with the Puerto Rico Microfinances Corp., known as Microfinanzas PR, to establish a case referral system between the institutions.
Puerto Rico’s revenue collections for the month of April fell significantly below estimates, short by $442.3 million at $1.18 billion, but up by $196 million year-over-year, the Treasury Department said in a release distributed after the end of business Friday.
The Puerto Rico Treasury Department announced Wednesday it has cut $147.2 million in tax refunds corresponding to 247,744 tax returns during the current tax cycle, representing $80 million more than what was disbursed at this time last year.
Gov. Alejandro García-Padilla signed Sunday an executive order to extend service hours for certain Puerto Rico government agencies, as was established by law more than a decade ago.
The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is calling all entities involved in research and development activities to participate in the Science and Technology Research and Development Survey, which provides for the collection of data on R&D resources earmarked for the island, a key indicator of the knowledge economy, agency Executive Director Mario Marazzi said.
Gov. Alejandro García-Padilla's administration is contemplating a number of austerity measures to scale back government expenses, including proposing an across-the-board $600 Christmas bonus for all public employees and eliminating payments of excess or unused sick days.
Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García-Padilla presented Tuesday a budget that includes about $1.4 billion in cuts, including the elimination of 23 agencies and about 100 schools, among other “rational uses of public funds.”
The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority and the Municipality of Hatillo are getting a combined $6.6 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve sanitary sewer system projects in rural areas, the agency announced Tuesday.
The Puerto Rico Investment Summit, a two-day conference held in collaboration with the Department of Economic Development and Commerce of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Paulson & Co., will be held later this week, focusing on Puerto Rico as a business and investment destination.
The National Governors Association (NGA) recently chose Puerto Rico to participate in a pilot project to develop state-level capacity to support so-called Medicaid “super-utilizers,” along with six other states: Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Nuevo Mexico, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
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