The U.S. Treasury Department and storm-ravaged Puerto Rico say that they have reached a deal to let the bankrupt U.S. territory access billions of dollars in long-disputed federal loans to help it recover from last year’s Hurricane Maria, Reuters reported. In a joint news conference on Thursday in San Juan, broadcast on the internet, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló and U.S.
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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he aims to wrap up negotiations today on a multi-billion dollar loan to Puerto Rico’s government that the territory’s leaders have complained is long overdue after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in September, Bloomberg News reported.
Puerto Rico’s bankrupt power authority, PREPA, has appointed Walter Higgins as its new chief executive officer, the utility said on Tuesday, on the six-month anniversary of Hurricane Maria’s destruction of the island’s power grid, Reuters reported.
Though economic activity in Puerto Rico has picked up in recent months, businesses large and small are struggling, the Wall Street Journal reported. Electricity woes continue to plague the island, where 91 percent of power generation has been restored but the grid is prone to sudden outages.
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The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico was created under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act of 2016. The Board consists of seven members appointed by the President of the United States and one ex officio member designated by the Governor of Puerto Rico. Access information on the Board, documents, videos of meetings, calendar of events and live webcasts by clicking here.