Madagascar Development

Standard & Poor's has downgraded Puerto Rico's general obligation debt as legislators debate how to overhaul the U.S. territory's tax system and generate more revenue amid a financial crisis. The credit rating agency says Puerto Rico's market access has weakened and expressed concern about a lack of consensus as the government prepares its 2016 fiscal budget. The announcement made late Friday comes just days after Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank warned the government could be forced to shut down in three months given a lack of funds. The bank also said the government's fiscal problems could prevent it from accessing the capital market. Puerto Rico has said it plans to issue more than $2 billion in general obligation bonds as the island struggles to reduce $73 billion in public debt. S&P further downgrades Puerto Rico's general obligation debt

La agencia Standard and Poor's (S&P) bajó de nuevo la calificación de las Obligaciones Generales de Puerto Rico, que ya se encontraban en terreno especulativo (de bonos "basura"), y de varias de sus instituciones públicas, además de colocar con perspectiva negativa la deuda del Estado Libre Asociado. S&P difundió hoy en su dirección en internet varios comunicados en los que recoge las degradaciones otorgadas, además, a la deuda de la Corporación del Fondo de Interés Apremiante (COFINA) y el Sistema de Retiro del Gobierno. Así como a la Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Infraestructura (AFI), la Autoridad del Distrito de Convenciones y la Autoridad de Transportación y Carreteras (ACT). A todas esas instituciones públicas S&P les concede perspectiva negativa y advierte que la vigilancia bajo esta perspectiva responde a la falta de consenso entre las autoridades de Puerto Rico sobre el presupuesto del año fiscal 2016, lo que podría generar todavía más pro

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has downgraded Puerto Rico to CCC+ from B and placed the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications. The ratings firm attributed the downgrade to “our view that the commonwealth’s market access prospects have further weakened and Puerto Rico’s ability to meet its financial commitments is increasingly tied to the business, financial, and economic conditions on the island.” S&P believes “budget pressures are exacerbated by current weak economic trends and high debt levels.” Puerto Rico’s government may run out of money and have to shut down in the next three months, with a “devastating impact” for the U.S. commonwealth’s economy, officials at the island’s Government Development Bank warned in an April 21 letter. Puerto Rico has more than $70 billion in debt and is struggling with a weak economy and high unemployment. Write to   Josh Beckerman at   josh.beckerman@wsj.com By J osh Beckerman Commonwealth is struggling with weak economy, high

Puerto Rico finance officials warn a government shutdown may be only months away. Puerto Rico is saddled with $70 billion in debt and has been unable to sell the billions in bonds it needs to avoid running out of money. Heidie Calero, a business consultant there, says the question is whether Puerto Rico's lawmakers will overhaul the tax system. "Right now we have so many suspense stories that it's really terrible," she says. This crisis didn't happen overnight. Government spending has outpaced revenue for years. U.S. tax breaks made the island attractive for businesses, and Puerto Rico had itself a moment. Those tax credits ended, but spending went on. "From investment grade that we were before, a very coveted financial paper, we are now the status of junk," Calero says. Luiz Mesquita, a business professor at Arizona State, blames mismanagement. Take the troubled Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which is state run. "And because of these m

MANCHESTER, England, Apr 23, 2015 (PR Newswire Europe via COMTEX) -- MANCHESTER, England, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Non-stop services to four different cities in four different countries will begin operating in November 2015 Norwegian is launching in November 2015 new non-stop services from Puerto Rico to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and London. The airline will be operating to London Gatwick Airport twice weekly (Wednesday and Saturday) and weekly services to Copenhagen (Friday, returning via St Croix), Stockholm Arlanda (Tuesday) and Oslo Gardermoen (Sunday). All flights will be operated with a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. ASM has been working in partnership with the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and Aerostar Airport Holdings over the past 18 months to attract Norwegian to fly non-stop between London and Scandinavia and Puerto Rico. The discussions with the airline started at World Routes in Las Vegas in 2013 and continued with subsequent head office visits in Fornebu, to present

Puerto Rico's recent announcement that it will miss a May 1 deadline to file 2014 financial statements could count as a default if left unresolved for more than 30 days, according to a research note from Moody's Investors Service on Thursday. "Legal documents of that transaction stipulate the GDB (Government Development Bank) will use 'commercially reasonable efforts' to post audited financial statements, also by May 1 each year," Moody's said. "The failure to make such efforts to publish annual financial documents might constitute a default if left uncured for 30 days under the terms of the loan agreement." Puerto Rico will not be able to file audited 2014 financial statements by the May deadline, the GDB said in a bondholder filing on Tuesday. Moody's said that while the delay was a credit negative it did not in itself alter its view of Puerto Rico's finances, although it did raise questions about the government's commitment to

Three months. That is how long the Puerto Rico government has before it could run out of money, according to the island’s top finance officials. The warning came in an unusual letter to the commonwealth’s governor and the heads of the House and Senate from the Government Development Bank, which oversees all of Puerto Rico’s debt deals. The letter, which was sent this week, was meant to underscore the need for Puerto Rico lawmakers to act quickly to address the island’s fiscal problems, officials said. Lawmakers have been squabbling over a plan to overhaul the commonwealth’s tax system to generate sorely needed revenue. That debate has held up Puerto Rico’s plan to sell as much as $2.95 billion in bonds — a critical source of liquidity — because potential investors want to see the commonwealth’s long-term fiscal plan before agreeing to lend more money. Without that long-term bond deal, and another shorter-term financing that Puerto Rico needs to complete this summer, the government’s li

Puerto Rico will run out of money in three months and its government be forced to shut down unless it manages to pass tax reform measures and finalize a budget, wrote Puerto Rico Government Development Bank head David Chafey Jr in a letter to the heads of the Puerto Rican Senate and House. “For us to be able to borrow from traditional investors or hedge fund investors, they will say show me your plan and show your budget,” said Chafey, reports Michael Corkery for the New York Times . Chafey trying to force legislative action Puerto Rico has been struggling with high debt and weak growth for a couple of years now, and a bond issue last year was supposed to give it enough time (ie liquidity ) to push through difficult reform measures and get its budget under control, and at least headed toward balanced. That has happened, and when a restructuring law was struck down in February it put investors on notice that the commonwealth is still very much at risk of default. It’s understand

Flights to Puerto Rico - San Juan from London-Gatwick Select wanted outbound and return date. Press "Show flight departures" to continue. Show flight departures Fly from - Select departure - Aalborg (AAL) Lanzarote (ACE) Ålesund (AES) Alicante (ALC) Stockholm-Arlanda (ARN) Barcelona (BCN) Bergen (BGO) Copenhagen (CPH) Dubrovnik (DBV) Algarve-Faro (FAO) Rome-Fiumicino (FCO) Fuerteventura (FUE) Gothenburg-Landvetter (GOT) Helsinki (HEL) Marseille-Provence (MRS) Nice (NCE) Oslo-Gardermoen (OSL) Mallorca-Palma (PMI) Split (SPU) Stavanger (SVG) Tenerife (TFS) Tromsø (TOS) Trondheim (TRD) Sandefjord-Torp (TRF) ------------------------------ --- Austria --- Salzburg (SZG) Vienna (VIE) --- Bosnia-Herzegovina --- Sarajevo (SJJ) --- Bulgaria --- Bourgas (BOJ) Varna (VAR) --- Croatia --- Pul

Budget flights from Gatwick to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico are to be initiated by Norwegian as it expands its long-haul network. The twice-weekly service is to start in November with an introductory fare of £269 one-way. The Scandinavian low-cost carrier also plans to add more flights from Gatwick to New York and Los Angeles, as well as serving Pula in Croatia from this summer. New York will be served daily from autumn while three flights a week will run to Los Angeles in the winter. Norwegian will also serve San Juan in Puerto Rico from Copenhagen, Stockholm and Olso, together with the US Virgin Islands and Las Vegas from Copenhagen. The airline’s chief commercial officer, Thomas Ramdahl, said “The response we’ve had on our intercontinental destinations has been overwhelming and it is obvious that affordable fares were scarce before Norwegian entered the market. “This makes it even more enjoyable to add more destinations to our route map of more

Puerto Rico will not be able to file audited 2014 financial statements by a May 1 deadline, the island's Government Development Bank said in a bondholder filing dated Tuesday. The postponement is partly due to delays in issuance of audited financial statements of three of the island's retirement systems, the filing said. Puerto Rico is expected to file by July 31, it said. (Reporting by Megan Davies ; Editing by David Gregorio ) Puerto Rico to delay filing audited financial statements -filing

2015 is a turning point in the economic and legislative relationship between Puerto Rico and the rest of the country: it is up to Congress to decide whether that relationship will be characterized by equality and sustainable progress or costly disputes affecting citizens in the states as well as in Puerto Rico. I am proud to be part of the Puerto Rico Financial Stability Coalition ( www.stability4PR.com ), supporting the Puerto Rico Chapter 9 Uniformity Act (H.R. 870). H.R. 870 would permit the insular government to authorize public instrumentalities on the brink of financial ruin to obtain a path to recovery under U.S. law – something that is authorized in the states but not Puerto Rico. From a bankruptcy policy perspective, I do not believe that the current exclusion ever made sense; it certainly doesn’t make any sense now. Puerto Rican bonds are heavily traded in the U.S. municipal bond market, so the legal rules should be the same in Puerto Rico as they are in the 50 states. ADV

The Obama Administration is taking heat for its refusal to join China’s proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and has now taken the limited step of suggesting that the World Bank work in concert with the new China-led bank. No one doubts the massive need for infrastructure development in Asia – the Asian Development Bank Institute estimated it at US$8 trillion by 2020. The AIIB is controversial because it will be the first major non-Western initiated international development organisation to compete with the institutional system established in Bretton Woods nearly seven decades ago. It is a Chinese initiative in direct competition with the World Bank (1947) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB, 1966). The White House has expressed concern that the AIIB will not live up to the “high standards” of the World Bank and ADB, especially over environmental, governance, and social safeguards. Many have criticised the Obama Administration for taking issue publically with its allie

The U.S. commonwealth and Greece have a lot in common, mostly good: sandy beaches , good weather, picturesque ruins, passports that let them escape their homelands for better-off place, well-heeled visitors, John Paulson . A handful of Puerto Ricans would even like to enjoy the nominal sovereignty claimed by the Greeks. This, however, is a comparison Puerto Rico could really do without . The Puerto Rico government and the hedge funds that own its bonds are turning to former International Monetary Fund officials to help resolve a growing debt crisis that may require a restructuring more akin to Greece than a troubled city like Detroit…. As a U.S. commonwealth, the island also doesn’t qualify for IMF aid, but the excessive borrowing, inconsistent financial reporting and low tax collection that landed Puerto Rico in hot water are common in the developing countries that IMF economists deal with. Of course, no such comparison is very precise. And while Greece’s beaches, ruins and food a

Legislators on Tuesday demanded quicker action to rescue Puerto Rico's public power company, expressing dissatisfaction over the pace of a multimillion-dollar plan to improve its finances. Members of the island's Senate Commission of Energy Affairs expressed concern the Electric Energy Authority might fall into receivership if the bondholders' debt is not paid soon. "It's very important that we solve an issue that is really hurting the economy of Puerto Rico," Sen. Eduardo Bhatia said. The authority's chief restructuring officer, Lisa Donahue, told the commission she will present a first draft by June 1 on how she plans to save the company. "We get one chance to do this right. I wish it could go faster. It can't go faster," she said. "When our report is final, there will be very tough decisions that will require bipartisan support." The Electric Energy Authority holds nearly $9 billion in debt and owes investors some $400 million b

Now that you’ve created the next great app and your investment in your startup is worth a billion dollars, at least on paper, it’s time for a really difficult challenge: how to cash out without paying capital gains taxes anywhere in the world? With no U.S. or Puerto Rican tax on much investment income of new residents, U.S. citizens now can pay zero tax on capital gains. For several hundred affluent Americans over the last couple of years (including Toby Neugebauer , a key financier to Ted Cruz) the answer has been to establish a principal residence in Puerto Rico , and spend 183 days a year there. The commonwealth is an unincorporated part of the United States, and its residents are U.S. citizens. Nonetheless, the United States treats Puerto Rico as a foreign country for tax purposes. And, unlike the case of U.S. citizens residing in genuinely foreign countries, the United States does not impose any federal income tax when U.S. citizens who are residents of the island earn income

Puerto Rico's populations loss, primarily to the U.S. mainland, is being led by younger and less educated sections of the population and boosting the proportion of the college educated among those who remain, according to a blog post by the New York Federal Reserve on Monday. Researchers at the New York Fed play down concerns over a "brain drain" and say Puerto Rico must do more to provide jobs for lower skilled workers to stem population loss and the erosion of its tax base. The Fed warned that the pressures of migration and an aging population "can create a cycle of economic decay and further population losses that can be difficult to break." The New York Fed used U.S. census data to show that the share of those leaving the island between 2011 and 2013 who were high school dropouts or had only a high school diploma was higher than for the island overall. During the same time, the proportion of college graduates and those with some college education leaving

Antonio Weiss, the former Wall Street banker who became a top adviser to the Treasury secretary this year, has made two trips to Puerto Rico in recent weeks. Kent Hiteshew, who runs the Treasury Department ’s office of state and local finance, has also met with government officials in San Juan multiple times this spring. The Treasury Department is quietly stepping up its involvement in Puerto Rico, indicating that the island’s financial problems, which have been simmering for years, are reaching a critical point. High-ranking officials have been shuttling between Washington and Puerto Rico, advising commonwealth officials as they try to stabilize the island’s finances.                    But it is a quandary with no clear-cut solution and potentially far-reaching effects. Puerto Rico is struggling with far more debt than analysts believe it can repay, and no legal framework exists to reduce the burden. Financially troubled cities and counties in the United States can take shelter in