Comment on Puerto Rico wants bondholders to postpone debt payments

Puerto Rico wants bondholders to postpone debt payments

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The governor has called on creditors to postpone bond payments and restructure the U.S. territory's $72 billion in public debt as the government closes out its fiscal year Tuesday amid growing uncertainty about the island's economy. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said Monday night that he will start meeting this week with legislators of all political parties as well as religious leaders and business owners to talk about how best to solve the financial crisis, which has drawn comparisons to the debt crunch that has hit Greece. Garcia went on TV just hours after international economists hired by his administration released a report painting a grim picture of the government's financial bind and of Puerto Rico's economy, which has been in recession for nearly nine years. "Unless a comprehensive approach is taken, the inevitable will happen and be far more damaging to the people of Puerto Rico," warned Anne Krueger, a former World Bank chief economist who worked on the report and presented the findings to dozens of government officials. The economists praised Garcia's administration for taking action on higher taxes, pension reforms, spending cuts and freezes, but they also said revenue projections systematically exceed collections. "If we look at how the government operates, the lack of transparency of public finances, the bad quality of statistics, the massive tax evasion, the government corruption ...

 

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