Puerto Rico avoids second default, but future payments uncertain
NEW YORK/SAN JUAN | By Megan Davies and Nick Brown

A protester holding a Puerto Rico's flag takes part in a march in San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 5, 2015.
Reuters/Alvin Baez
Puerto Rico avoided a default on debt maturing on Tuesday but warned that its deteriorating liquidity meant that future defaults loom.
There had been speculation that the U.S. territory would default on all or part of the $355 million notes issued by its financing arm, the Government Development Bank.
While Puerto Rico first defaulted in August, failure to make the payment on Tuesday would have been more significant because part of that debt was protected by the commonwealth's constitution.
Another default could have triggered lawsuits, further spooked investors and undermined the island's efforts to climb out of $72 billion in debt.
Puerto Rico said in a statement that it made the payment despite "extreme fiscal challenges." It warned of problems ahead as it will have to "claw back revenues pledged to certain bonds issued in order to maintain public services," Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
The commonwealth would use the clawbacks to fund payments on top-priority debt carrying constitutional protections, Garcia Padilla said in written testimony. However, in oral testimony, he said clawbacks could also be used to maintain public services.
"The imminence of a default when presented with the alternative between paying creditors and providing essential government services looms large," Garcia Padilla said.
Garcia Padilla signed an order allowing Puerto Rico to begin redirecting certain funds in light of recently revised revenue estimates and its deteriorating liquidity situation, the island said.
In written testimony, Garcia Padilla said: "In simple terms, we have begun to default on our debt in an effort to attempt to repay bonds issued with the full faith and credit of the commonwealth and secure sufficient resources to protect the life, health, safety and welfare of the people of Puerto Rico."
Height Securities analyst Daniel Hanson said the comments meant Puerto Rico was defaulting on "instrumentality debt, not debt with a constitutional pledge." General obligation bonds, along with GDB bonds that have constitutional guarantees, should be safe, he said, but bonds from entities such as highway authority PRHTA and infrastructure financing authority PRIFA are at risk.
Of the $355 million paid on Tuesday, $81.4 million was to service non-general obligation-backed debt and $273.3 million was for notes backed by the commonwealth's general obligation guarantee.
During the hearing Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said Puerto Rico "narrowly averted a complete default" by unsustainable financial gymnastics.
The payment on bonds issued by the GDB was crucial as Puerto Rico tries to stretch its liquidity into 2016 to provide more time to restructure debt.
In August, Puerto Rico paid only $628,000 of a $58 million payment due on its Public Finance Corp bonds.
(By Megan Davies and Nick Brown; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/01/us-usa-puertorico-idUSKBN0TK4BH20151201#BrBD3LjQOlBYuB6D.99
NEW YORK/SAN JUAN | By Megan Davies and Nick Brown
A protester holding a Puerto Rico's flag takes part in a march in San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 5, 2015.
Reuters/Alvin Baez
Puerto Rico avoided a default on debt maturing on Tuesday but warned that its deteriorating liquidity meant that future defaults loom.
There had been speculation that the U.S. territory would default on all or part of the $355 million notes issued by its financing arm, the Government Development Bank.
While Puerto Rico first defaulted in August, failure to make the payment on Tuesday would have been more significant because part of that debt was protected by the commonwealth's constitution.
Another default could have triggered lawsuits, further spooked investors and undermined the island's efforts to climb out of $72 billion in debt.
Puerto Rico said in a statement that it made the payment despite "extreme fiscal challenges." It warned of problems ahead as it will have to "claw back revenues pledged to certain bonds issued in order to maintain public services," Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
The commonwealth would use the clawbacks to fund payments on top-priority debt carrying constitutional protections, Garcia Padilla said in written testimony. However, in oral testimony, he said clawbacks could also be used to maintain public services.
"The imminence of a default when presented with the alternative between paying creditors and providing essential government services looms large," Garcia Padilla said.
Garcia Padilla signed an order allowing Puerto Rico to begin redirecting certain funds in light of recently revised revenue estimates and its deteriorating liquidity situation, the island said.
In written testimony, Garcia Padilla said: "In simple terms, we have begun to default on our debt in an effort to attempt to repay bonds issued with the full faith and credit of the commonwealth and secure sufficient resources to protect the life, health, safety and welfare of the people of Puerto Rico."
Height Securities analyst Daniel Hanson said the comments meant Puerto Rico was defaulting on "instrumentality debt, not debt with a constitutional pledge." General obligation bonds, along with GDB bonds that have constitutional guarantees, should be safe, he said, but bonds from entities such as highway authority PRHTA and infrastructure financing authority PRIFA are at risk.
Of the $355 million paid on Tuesday, $81.4 million was to service non-general obligation-backed debt and $273.3 million was for notes backed by the commonwealth's general obligation guarantee.
During the hearing Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said Puerto Rico "narrowly averted a complete default" by unsustainable financial gymnastics.
The payment on bonds issued by the GDB was crucial as Puerto Rico tries to stretch its liquidity into 2016 to provide more time to restructure debt.
In August, Puerto Rico paid only $628,000 of a $58 million payment due on its Public Finance Corp bonds.
(By Megan Davies and Nick Brown; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/01/us-usa-puertorico-idUSKBN0TK4BH20151201#BrBD3LjQOlBYuB6D.99
» The monetary authority activates the tools to revive development and eradicate poverty
» The Central Bank of Iraq promises a decrease in the dollar and clarifies regarding prepaid cards
» Militia Man & Crew’s video: "Get Ready to Rumble.. 2023-2024-2025 Budget is Hot"
» The Central Bank: Merchants' insistence on buying dollars from the parallel market exposes them to l
» Passing the budget is a foregone conclusion.. and resolving the dispute in Article 14 falls within t
» Kurdish MP: The region is trying to evade its oil obligations in the budget
» Maliki's coalition: No waiver of depositing the region's oil money in the central bank's account
» The National Investment Commission confirms the willingness of its chairman to attend the parliament
» Al-Sudani: The Iraqi government is in the process of approving the military retirement law
» More than a billion dollars in sales from the Central Bank of Iraq within a week
» The difficult nights of the budget.. another round of maneuvers to vote on the deferred paragraphs
» No more meetings and postponed points will be passed.. An "optimistic" statement from the Finance Co
» "Hot" sessions in the House of Representatives... Learn about the articles that were approved, postp
» The release of 3 billion dollars of frozen Iranian funds in Iraq
» The budget.. The sharp differences between the Barti deputies cause the postponement of the vote on
» Central Bank Governor: Dollar exchange rates will drop dramatically in the coming days
» Chambers of Commerce identify the most important factors for the rise of the parallel market for the
» Representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party: There are no major differences remaining..and the
» Informed source: The gasoline tax achieves two main things
» An economist for / NINA /: Setting an unconsidered price for oil in the budget reflects negatively o
» Al-Alaq is looking with the head of the JP Morgan bank to support foreign trade financing
» Iraq pays the costs of the Iranian pilgrims from their account in the Trade Bank of Iraq
» Parliamentary Finance: The dispute over the budget over oil and the share of the region
» He directed to distribute 500,000 residential plots of land among the citizens
» Parliament's priority is to approve the oil and gas law
» Electricity: Activating the connection with Jordan at the beginning of next July
» Great turnout at Erbil International Fair
» Serious attempts to revive thousands of suspended factories
» An American bank expresses its support for Iraq's foreign trade financing operations
» The difficult nights of the budget.. another round of maneuvers to vote on the deferred paragraphs
» Baghdad "buys" a moral victory with economic losses worth a billion dollars a month
» Iraq is the third largest oil exporter to America in a week
» Marking the end of the crisis.. the start of loading fuel tanks in Basra
» Alia Nassif praises the dismissal of the first batch of general managers and expects a decrease in f
» The House of Representatives raises its session to five o'clock this evening, Saturday
» Introducing postgraduate studies in private universities.. Parliamentary signatures to delete the pa
» Articles of the tripartite budget.. Stopping appointments, except for contracting with 50,000 police
» An American bank announces its willingness to support Iraqi banks with foreign trade financing opera
» The House of Representatives votes on a number of budget articles and adjourns its session to Saturd
» Parliamentary Finance commented on postponing the vote on some articles of the budget law
» Parliament postpones voting on four articles and completes 3 others within the budget
» Iraq's budget.. Parliament votes on three new articles and deletes one
» The House of Representatives raises its session to this afternoon
» In numbers, an expert explains what happened to the Iraqi refineries in 2022 and the impact of Artic
» The World Bank lowers its forecasts for the performance of the economies of Arab countries.. What ab
» Dollar exchange rates in the Iraqi market
» J.P. Morgan offers to support Iraqi banks
» The House of Representatives votes on the first paragraph of the budget law
» Parliament votes on two articles that include the exchange rate at 130 thousand dinars
» Postponing the session to complete the vote on the budget materials for several hours
» Prime Minister: Iraq is on the verge of a major reconstruction movement in all sectors
» Advisor to the Prime Minister explains the details of the first stages of the new Sadr City project
» The Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee announces the settlement of differences and the
» Al-Rafidain announces the distribution of a new meal from the advances of retirees amounting to 25 m
» Al-Sudanese confirms the obligation of Kurdistan to export oil through SOMO.. What about Türkiye?
» Deputy: One trillion dinars to develop four health programs in this year's budget
» The Governor of the Central Bank meets the Vice President of JPMorgan Bank
» Parliament votes to adopt the value of a barrel of oil at $70 and the exchange rate of the dollar at
» An American bank expresses its willingness to support Iraqi banks with foreign trade financing opera
» A new postponement of the budget settlement session
» Dollar exchange rates in the local market
» Al-Alaq is looking with the head of the JP Morgan bank to support foreign trade financing
» A budget usurped by and from it, will it end the controversy of emptiness and fill the pockets of ci
» Alia Nassif attacks those who seek to restore the provincial councils: a failed experiment and a gat
» A deputy for Karbala blames the government and the leaders of the blocs for delaying the budget and
» The Finance Committee requests a 24-hour deadline: Kurdistan's dispute was confined between the "two
» The House of Representatives adjourned the session on the budget to one in the afternoon, Friday
» After labors and disagreements.. the House of Representatives holds its session to vote on the tripa
» Parliament adjourns after voting on articles of the draft budget
» Dollar exchange rates in the Iraqi governorates
» What do you know about the 6 articles voted on by the House of Representatives and the deleted artic
» Militia Man & Crew patron-only new video: "Two Sides of the Story"
» Judy, MilitiaMan and more....Thursday Morning 6-8-2023
» Al-Sudani to a delegation from the “GB Morgan” bank: We are continuing to reform the banking system
» The Association of Banks announces the creation of more than 10,000 job opportunities
» Deputy: Distributing the copy of the budget to the members of parliament when the session is held
» It is noteworthy that the suspended oil and gas law in Parliament since its first session, in 2005,
» Al-Sudani is discussing with an international banking delegation supporting the banking sector, the
» The start of the implementation ceremony of the (Iraqi-Gulf) electrical interconnection project betw
» Al-Sudani: The government seeks to stop money laundering by complying with international standards
» "Manipulation and speculation".. Economists attribute the dollar's rise in the parallel market to "n
» British report: The losses from stopping the region's oil exports through Türkiye are not estimated
» Masrour Barzani on the region's share of the budget: We made every effort to reach an agreement with
» An American institute dismantles the Chinese puzzle in Iraq: Beijing's investments are supported by
» The triple balancing act in front of the last three hours test: either to pass or face a legal probl
» Between "embarrassment and decisiveness"... the budget brings Parliament into a "war of hours" and t
» Barzani on Kurdistan's share of the budget: We will not accept any violation of our rights
» A member of Barzani's party: holding a session to pass the budget depends on this matter
» Al-Sudanese in front of a delegation from the American bank, JP Morgan, pledging comprehensive banki
» Final agreement to send the draft budget to the Finance Committee and to vote at 6 p.m
» The position of the Kurdish forces hours before the budget settlement session
» Baghdad Today conveys the latest developments in the voting session on the budget
» The "suspicious" reputation of black money is lowering real estate prices in one of the most expensi
» The Saudi Energy Minister announces the start of implementing the Gulf electrical interconnection wi
» Parliamentary source: The budget voting session may take place at dawn on Friday
» Deputy: A large turnout of members of Parliament and a comfortable majority to pass the budget
» Side meetings to agree on the final version of the budget
» Al-Halbousi chairs a meeting of the Finance Committee prior to the budget vote session