Puerto Rico

The credit crisis in Puerto Rico may give Congress an opportunity to pass legislation that would allow direct regulation of state and local issuers, municipal market participants said Saturday.

The House Natural Resources Committee will meet to vote on the recently revised Puerto Rico bill starting on Tuesday and continuing the following day.

In another step forward in a nearly two-year old negotiated restructuring process, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s creditors and insurers agreed to lend the utility $55 million.

United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ reports on April employment in Puerto Rico were mixed.

The federal government announced plans today to help build and rehabilitate 752 housing units in Puerto Rico.

House members, government officials, and stakeholders all say the newest version of a bill to help Puerto Rico is a step forward, but their support for the measure seems tepid at best.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla froze the transfer of revenues from the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority to its bonds, making the commonwealth the biggest technical defaulter in United States municipal history.

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday urged the federal government to extend emergency loans to Puerto Rico to aid in debt restructuring. But he opposed the idea of a control board, which has been a cornerstone of legislation proposed by House Republicans.

Puerto Rico’s revenues for April, the general fund’s most lucrative month, came in 6.3% higher than projected.

Puerto Rico will need help from Washington to maintain future market access and avoid a descent into "third-world" economic conditions, municipal bond fund managers said.

The House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday postponed its scheduled release of a new bill to help Puerto Rico for what members hope will be only one day as discussions about acceptable revisions continued.

Puerto Rico economists are concerned credit unions, which provide financial services to more than a third of the island's citizens, may prove vulnerable as the debt crisis ripples through the local economy.

Ambac Assurance Corp. sued the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority to prevent what the insurer called improper siphoning of money.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority demanded Tuesday that its negotiating bondholders lend it $111 million by the end of Thursday.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Bondholder Group is offering to advance their arrangements with PREPA through putting money into escrow.

With the House Natural Resources Committee planning to release a new Puerto Rico bill on Wednesday and vote on it a week later, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew traveled to the commonwealth to hold meetings to drum up support for a legislative solution.

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said Puerto Rico has to “cut its debt way down” in order to survive.

Puerto Rico has declared a moratorium on payments on an additional Puerto Rico Infrastructure Finance Authority bond issue.

S&P Global Ratings said it lowered its issuer credit rating on the senior unsecured debt of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico (GDB) to D (default) from CC.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said concern for the people of Puerto Rico is the primary reason he wants lawmakers to adopt restructuring legislation for the commonwealth.