Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a dispute that has roiled the $3.8 trillion U.S. municipal bond market over payments on special revenue bonds that grew out of Puerto Rico's ongoing bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The justices left in place rulings last year by the Boston-based First U.S.

Unceasing seismic activity on a fault just off the southern coast has pushed damage estimates to $110 million, and municipal authorities are weighing evacuation orders for residents in pueblos such as Guánica, where another 6-magnitude aftershock Saturday rocked the region, the Washington Post reported. Gov.

Puerto Rico will have access to $260 million of emergency funds to help recovery efforts after a series of earthquakes struck the island, including a 6.4-magnitude temblor on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported.
Puerto Rico, with more than $70 billion of bonds at stake, has become the latest testing ground of austerity as the right prescription for an economy in decline, according to a commentary in The Bond Buyer.