GDB will not release annual report as promised Oct. 30
GDB President Melba Acosta.
Puerto Rico Government Development Bank President Melba Acosta confirmed Tuesday that the agency will not be publishing the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report on Oct. 30, as it had announced earlier this year it would do.
Saying that auditing firm KPMG is requiring a “series of additional tests and revisions” that are delaying the publication, Acosta could not confirm when the document will be ready.
The CAFR comprises government financial statements that representing its financial condition that complies with the accounting requirements promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. An external auditing firm must validate the report prior to its release.
The last time the Puerto Rico government released its CAFR was in 2013, for fiscal year 2012. That report showed that government agencies, certain corporations and other entities were dragging a combined $39 billion net asset deficit.
During a call with members of the media after finalizing a day-long meeting with advisers for groups of Puerto Rico bondholders in New York, Acosta also confirmed the GDB will release its quarterly liquidity statement today.
The public agency had been divulging its liquidity status on a monthly basis until May, at the request of bondholders. That month, the bank had some $778 million in cash available. In recent weeks, the government has made it very public that it may run out of funds to operate as early as next month.
On Tuesday, members of Gov. García-Padilla’s fiscal team — including Treasury Secretary Juan Zaragoza and Infrastructure Financing Authority Executive Director Grace Santana — offered a group of about 26 bondholder advisors a detailed run-down of the government’s fiscal situation, answering questions that Acosta said should lay down the groundwork for the start of debt restructuring talks next month.
The government is dragging about $73 billion in public debt and has back-to-back debt service payments due in December and January. The GDB has to pay $354.7 million to creditors on Dec. 1, while the Commonwealth will have to make a $331.6 million General Obligation bond payment on Jan 1.
