Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

Puerto Rico is poised to exit bankruptcy and begin paying bondholders again, a milestone that’s likely to boost not only the value of commonwealth debt but also other risky state and local securities, Bloomberg News reported. Puerto Rico stopped paying debt service in 2016 and then fell into the biggest bankruptcy ever in the $4 trillion municipal bond market the following year.

Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives early Friday voted down an amendment to the current operating budget that would allocate billions of dollars to investors as part of the island’s debt-cutting plan, Bloomberg News reported. The legislation failed after midnight local time on Friday by 25 to 21, one vote short of passage. Still, the U.S.

Public school teachers in Puerto Rico called off a strike Thursday, after the government agreed to increase their base salary, make a new $1,000 a month raise permanent and engage in pension negotiations, Bloomberg News reported.

Puerto Rico is bracing for a second day of protests Thursday as public-sector workers said they will continue to fight for higher wages and more pension guarantees as the U.S. commonwealth struggles to balance the demands of a historic bankruptcy against growing discontent, Bloomberg News reported.