Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

Leading House Republicans declared their opposition yesterday to allowing debt-ridden Puerto Rico access to chapter 9 bankruptcy protections, raising new uncertainty about how the island can emerge from its financial crisis, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

Franklin Advisers and OppenheimerFunds said they will work with Puerto Rico and its power authority, PREPA, on a revitalization plan after a U.S. appeals court on Monday affirmed a lower court decision to strike down a Puerto Rican legislation granting local municipalities the right to enter bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a lower court decision to strike down the Puerto Rico Recovery Act aimed at granting local municipalities the right to enter bankruptcy, saying that the law is preempted by the Bankruptcy Code and thus void, Reuters reported yesterday.

The U.S. has its own version of Greece in Puerto Rico, and the meltdown could be nearly as ugly when it arrives, according to a commentary in Friday’s Wall Street Journal.