Puerto Rico’s March Collections Come in 3.4% Short

The Puerto Rico Treasury's revenues came in 3.4% below projections.

Corporate income taxes were 27.2% higher than expected and foreign (Act. 154) taxes were 33.9% higher than expected.

Non-resident withholdings, which is ahead of budget for the year, came in $105 million or 67% short of budget in March.

While short of projections, March collections were 6.8% above collections in March 2014. Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury Juan Zaragoza G-mez said that "the March revenue increase was very important considering the fact that in March 2014 a corporation made a $119 million royalty payment for the use of patents in the manufacturing process. This payment was not recurrent in March 2015. Revenues were down by $31.5 million compared to estimates, which is specifically due to the fact that the aforementioned payment had been included in the monthly estimates but was not received."

Through the first nine months of the fiscal year revenues are 2.5% or $153.2 million below budget.

On March 39 Gov. Alejandro García Padilla approved a measure that is intended to increase revenue collections in the current fiscal year, which extends to the end of June.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Puerto Rico
MORE FROM BOND BUYER