Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley urged Congress to pass a bill that would allow some agencies of Puerto Rico to file for chapter 9 protection, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.

Up against a deadline to reveal its plan to restructure its staggering debt, Puerto Rico has decided not to move ahead with a controversial proposal to borrow an additional $750 million to pay for improvements to its water and sewer authority, the New York Times DealBook blog reported yesterday. It attributed the decision, made on Monday, to the turmoil in the global markets.

A private sector coalition of over 20 trade associations is speaking with a single voice and asking Congress to grant Puerto Rico the right to allow its public corporations access to protections under chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, according to a commentary on the Huffington Post on Friday.

Puerto Rico on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that blocks the restructuring of the commonwealth's public agencies, as the island grapples with trying to restructure its huge debt load, Reuters reported on Friday. In a petition seeking the Court's review, Puerto Rico said that a lower court erred in concluding that U.S.