Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

The Obama administration has devised a plan to help rescue Puerto Rico from its insolvency and, according to a report in The Hill today, it's more sizzle than steak, with no chance of enactment.
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson endorsed statehood for Puerto Rico at a Sunday campaign event on the island, CNN reported yesterday. "In a Carson administration, I will leave no stone unturned in my efforts to secure this important step in Puerto Rico's history — establishing Estado 51," said the retired neurosurgeon.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the island’s main electricity provider, has entered into a debt-exchange agreement with some of its bondholders and hedge funds that puts the utility a step closer to reducing its $8.3 billion debt load, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.

Hedge funds’ involvement in the Puerto Rico debt crisis is leading U.S. Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) to propose legislation that would force the firms to reveal more about their investments, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.