Lawyers asked a U.S. District Court overseeing the commonwealth’s bankruptcy case to approve $75 million in funds for legal and consulting fees and another $2 million in expenses, the Washington Post reported. And that covers May 3 through Sept. 30, the first five months of the case. Another five months have passed since then.
Puerto Rico in Distress
Video Features
ABI Analysis
Nearly 500,000 people left Puerto Rico for the mainland during the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center, pushing the stateside Puerto Rican population past the number living on the island last year — an estimated 3.3 million. The government of Puerto Rico’s guess is that by the end of 2018, 200,000 more residents will have left the U.S.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the federal government is prepared to extend Puerto Rico the loans approved by Congress to help it recover from Hurricane Maria, disputing assertions from island officials that the funds have been needlessly delayed, Bloomberg News reported.
The message coming out of an investment conference here in February was simple and optimistic: “Puerto Rico is open for business.” Attendees noted San Juan’s crowded restaurants and traffic-choked streets. But more than five months after Hurricane Maria plowed through Puerto Rico, some parts of the island are still in the dark, the New York Times reported.