Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood candidate Pedro Pierluisi yesterday was holding on to his narrow lead in the gubernatorial race as ballot counting continued and his chief rival refused to concede, Bloomberg News reported.

A plan to pull Puerto Rico out of bankruptcy by 2021 hit a major obstacle on Friday when a new member that U.S. President Donald Trump appointed to a federal control board overseeing the island’s finances rejected the immediate filing of a debt restructuring proposal.

The judge overseeing Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring process has rejected a bond insurer’s request for an investigation into what it said were potentially improper bond trades based on information obtained during confidential mediation sessions, Reuters reported. During a telephonic hearing on Wednesday, U.S.

Seven members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to the Puerto Rico Oversight Board asking it to postpone debt negotiations until an investigation of insider trading can be completed, Bond Buyer reported. U.S. Rep.