Moody's Investors Service yesterday lowered ratings on $13 billion of Puerto Rican bonds, including debt from the U.S. territory's now-defunct former fiscal agent, the Government Development Bank (GDB), Reuters reported. Moody's said that it downgraded bonds from six Puerto Rican issuers, but affirmed ratings on the island's largest classes of debt — general obligation bonds guaranteed by its constitution, and so-called COFINA debt, backed by sales tax revenue. It downgraded to C from Ca the GDB's senior notes, as well as bonds issued by the Puerto Rico Infrastructure Financing Authority, backed by rum taxes; bonds issued by its convention center authority, backed by hotel occupancy taxes; debt of the island's largest retirement system, backed by government pension contributions; and the 1998 Resolution bonds of the island's highway authority.
