Madagascar Development

Puerto Rico’s cooperativa system—consisting of state-insured credit unions—faces huge financial losses and could collapse, costing low-income residents their life savings, the territory’s Governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla told the federal oversight board overseeing Puerto Rico’s financial restructuring. In an Oct. 14 presentation to the oversight board, Padilla said that the cooperativas hold deposits for one-third of all island residents and have investment portfolios that are about 75% invested in commonwealth bonds. Puerto Rico faces a huge fiscal crisis and the island government has been unable to pay its debts. Earlier this year, Congress passed legislation creating the oversight board, which is charged with restructuring the government and its debt. The restructuring must protect the cooperativa system, Padilla said. Cooperativas are financial institutions insured by a territory government agency, the Corporation for the Supervision and Insurance of Cooperatives. There are...

Puerto Rico's economic activity index (EAI) for August fell 1 percent from a year earlier, the U.S. territory's fiscal agency reported on Tuesday. The Caribbean island's total EAI, an economic measurement correlated to gross national product, was 124.1 in August, the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority said in a monthly report. Puerto Rico is burdened with $70 billion in debt, a 45 percent poverty rate and a rapidly declining population as its residents, who are U.S. citizens, emigrate in droves to the mainland United States. Its finances are now under the oversight of a federally appointed board tasked with helping the island restructure debt and overhaul its economy. The EAI is based on four economic indicators: total nonfarm payroll employment, electric power generation, gasoline consumption and cement sales. Nonfarm payroll employment was down 0.3 percent from a year ago, the report said, but the other indicators rose. Power generati...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor addressed a standing room only audience of students and women entrepreneurs on Friday, encouraging them to own their mistakes, be unafraid to ask for help and be fearless in the pursuit of their dreams. In an Oprah-esque question and answer session at San Juan's Caribe Hilton hotel, the first Latina Supreme Court Justice hugged, kissed members of the audience and autographed copies of her best selling memoir,  My Beloved World, as she doled out advise on everything from how to navigate law school (learn to write well, befriend the smartest student on campus) to how to overcome fear and believe in yourself to achieve your goals. Sotomayor visited the island and hosted a conversation with local businesswomen as well as students. "When I am down and out I look back and so I can look forward and say I have more I can do," said Justice Sotomayor in a room buzzing with excitement. The justice, whose parents migrated from the isla...

When Congress passed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) early this summer, it took a critical first step in getting Puerto Rico’s economy back on track.   The law puts in place a process to address past fiscal issues, while also identifying reforms to improve Puerto Rico’s economic future.   Currently, the law’s Congressional Task Force on Economic Development is hearing from stakeholders representing a variety of interests to determine which reforms Congress should pursue. While we agree there must be a comprehensive approach to ensure a long-term, stable recovery in Puerto Rico, the conversation should start with the ailing healthcare sector. Despite Puerto Rico’s inequitable treatment under federal law, healthcare is a critically important segment of Puerto Rico’s economy, employing about 85,000 people across the island. It also represents fertile ground for employment and economic growth. Economists have projected that a ...

Puerto Rico's newly created federal oversight board set an Oct. 14 deadline for the island's governor to draft a fiscal turnaround plan on Friday, as its first public meeting was disrupted by angry protesters. The board asked Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla to present a plan laying out his vision for stabilizing Puerto Rico, which is grappling with $70 billion in debt, a 45 percent poverty rate and a decade-long recession. The seven-member board, created under the Puerto Rico rescue law known as PROMESA, was appointed on Aug. 31 by President Barack Obama and legislators. It will have broad powers to manage Puerto Rico’s finances and facilitate debt restructuring talks with creditors. The board met for the first time on Friday in Manhattan, electing Jose Carrion III as chairman. Carrion, one of four native Puerto Ricans on the panel, is an insurance executive and past chairman of Puerto Rico's Workers Compensation Board. “We’re working as quickly as possible, and ...