Puerto Rican officials pressed Senate lawmakers on yesterday to allow the island access to chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code as the U.S. territory wrestles with its debt, MarketWatch.com reported yesterday. They found support from Democrats at a Senate Finance Committee hearing but met skepticism from the Republican chairman of the panel. Melba Acosta-Febo, president of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, and Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, told a finance committee hearing the bankruptcy power should be available to the island in the same way it is available to other U.S. entities. Acosta-Febo also described the financial situation in Puerto Rico as having “passed the tipping point.” “Puerto Rico, in the face of an immediate liquidity crisis, has no access to the capital markets on sustainable terms and faces significant financing gaps over the next decade,” she testified. Height Securities said in a note yesterday that it expects Puerto Rico to run out of cash by November. Read more.
For more information on Puerto Rico’s financial crisis, be sure to visit ABI’s “Puerto Rico in Distress" webpage.
Rep. Pedro Pierluisi is the invited keynote speaker at this year’s Winter Leadership Conference. The early-bird rate is expiring soon, so register by Friday to save!
