Nearly a year after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, many of the island’s roughly 44,000 small businesses that haven’t benefited from reconstruction spending are still struggling, Bloomberg News reported. About 2,400 businesses closed in the fourth quarter of 2017, more than double the amount that closed during the same period in 2016, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show.
Puerto Rico in Distress
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A final agreement to restructure Puerto Rico’s sales tax-backed bonds will be filed by Oct. 15 in federal court, where a judge overseeing the U.S. commonwealth’s bankruptcy case will decide its fate, parties to the deal said yesterday, Reuters reported.
Investment funds owning about $1.9 billion of Puerto Rico’s general obligation bonds have formed a committee to negotiate a consensual restructuring with the commonwealth and the federal oversight board that manages its finances, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Puerto Rico’s official death toll from Hurricane Maria, the most powerful storm to hit the Caribbean island in almost a century, was raised yesterday from 64, a number widely discounted as far too low, to nearly 3,000, based on a study ordered by the governor of the U.S. territory, Reuters reported.
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The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico was created under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act of 2016. The Board consists of seven members appointed by the President of the United States and one ex officio member designated by the Governor of Puerto Rico. Access information on the Board, documents, videos of meetings, calendar of events and live webcasts by clicking here.