If the government of Puerto Rico were to pay the full amount due next year in GO debt would require laying off more than 3,400 public workers, among other adjustments.
The government of Puerto Rico is making budget adjustments amounting to some $254 million, which is about half of the shortfall in revenue collections the Treasury Department anticipated late last year.
Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García-Padilla announced changes to his fiscal team Wednesday that call for shifting Treasury Secretary Melba Acosta to the helm of the Government Development Bank, and naming Juan Zaragoza-Gómez as her successor at the agency. The governor also announced the appointment of Luis Cruz as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
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.
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.
In what may constitute as the latest setback in Puerto Rico’s attempt to put the economy back on track, Moody's Investors Service announced Wednesday its decision to downgrade $16 billion in Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation bonds.
Public expenses have been kept under projections during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the fourth consecutive year the administration has managed its finances according to what was budgeted, a government official said Monday.
A Dow Jones/Factiva content provider since 2014
Subscribe to our Dollars & Sense podcast!
NIMB ON SOCIAL MEDIA