Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

State and local governments pledge their full faith and credit to repay general obligation bonds, but politicians in Chicago and Connecticut realize their word is depreciating in value. Thus, they’re pitching a debt arbitrage to reduce their borrowing costs, according to a Wall Street Journal editorial.

The impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico’s already shattered finances is changing the financial landscape as creditors rethink strategies two months after the storm, with many slashing positions and others settling in for a long wait, according to a Reuters analysis.

The company hired to repair Puerto Rico’s electrical grid stopped working Monday over $83 million in unpaid bills while some utility crews from the mainland U.S. quit the half-finished reconstruction job altogether, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

The chief executive of Puerto Rico’s troubled public electric company stepped down on Friday amid a two-month island-wide blackout and weeks of bruising public outcry over a costly contract to restore service, the New York Times reported. The resignation of Ricardo L. Ramos, the chief executive of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA, was effective immediately.