Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, shutting businesses, killing the vulnerable and crippling economies, Puerto Rico has taken one of the country’s hardest economic hits, the New York Times reported. Gov. Wanda Vázquez was the first governor in the nation to order businesses to close and people to stay home.

Puerto Rico’s bankrupt public power utility signed a long-term deal to outsource the business of delivering electricity, making an expensive bet that private operators can curb the high costs and service problems that have long plagued consumers, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The U.S.

Puerto Rico’s governor on Thursday promised wage increases for teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public workers, unveiling a government budget higher than the one submitted by a federal control board that oversees the island’s finances, the Associated Press reported. It is the first budget submitted by Gov.

Facing declining enrollment, a bloated pension system and more than $341 million in debt, the University of Puerto Rico needs to cut spending, boost revenue and reduce its retirement obligations, a federally-appointed oversight board said yesterday as it unveiled its 2020 fiscal plan for the institution, Bloomberg News reported.