The message coming out of an investment conference here in February was simple and optimistic: “Puerto Rico is open for business.” Attendees noted San Juan’s crowded restaurants and traffic-choked streets. But more than five months after Hurricane Maria plowed through Puerto Rico, some parts of the island are still in the dark, the New York Times reported. The annual conference itself — designed to showcase the United States territory’s business opportunities — had to be rescheduled because of the slow pace of the recovery. More than 10,000 small businesses — nearly 20 percent of the island’s total — remain closed. At the upscale Mall of San Juan, two anchor stores — Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom — are shut because of storm damage, although Nordstrom may reopen in a few months.The most optimistic estimate is that Puerto Rico faces a two-year economic recovery. That assumes it can rebuild its power grid, restructure its finances in a court-supervised process and not get hit by another devastating storm. A major problem is that insurance claims are being paid too slowly and 60 percent of household requests for federal emergency grants are being denied. That means fewer dollars are churning through the local economy, when not much money is coming in from elsewhere. Tourism, which accounts for about 6 percent of the island’s economy and supports more than 60,000 jobs, is all but gone for this season. Read more.
The people of Puerto Rico need your help. Thousands are still without regular power service, and many more need to rebuild their homes. Please join the ABI Endowment and the Mariano Rivera foundation for a charity benefit for Puerto Rico on April 4, 2018, at the New York Athletic Club.