Gov’t Fiscal ’20 audited financial statements show $60B deficit
The government of Puerto Rico released audited financial statements for fiscal 2020 that reflected total and deferred assets of $34.8 billion and total and deferred liabilities of $94.6 billion, including public debt.
That leaves a government-wide net deficit of some $59.8 billion as of June 30, 2020, showing a increase by approximately $514.4 million over the prior fiscal year.
The units that compose the government — departments, agencies, funds, functions, and public corporations — were included in KPMG’s audit.
“Primary government revenues decreased by $883 million compared to 2019. In turn, expenses increased by $6.4 billion, and the expenses of the component units exceeded their revenues by $1.8 billion,” said Francisco Parés, the government’s CFO.
The General Fund’s income and expenses amounted to $9.3 billion and $8.7 billion, respectively.
“These numbers reflect an excess of income over expenses of $604 million, mainly caused by an increase, compared to what was budgeted, in tax collections on income and taxes on sales and uses, in addition to a control in government expenses,” Parés, who is also the government’s Treasury Secretary, explained.
The financial statements are the third the government has released in less than 20 months, as it works to update the accounting closings before the end of next year, he said.
In June 2021, the financial statements for 2018 were issued, in April 2022 those corresponding to the year 2019 and now the most recent.
By January 2023, the financial statements for 2021 are scheduled to be delivered and in June of the same year, those corresponding to 2022. As of 2023, the commitment is to issue the government’s financial statements within 10 months, after the closing of the fiscal year, Parés said.
