Debt-ridden Puerto Rico is facing a marked slowdown in new revenues, and even under a best-case economic growth scenario would be able to make just a fraction of the loan payments due over the next decade, officials said Monday.
Revised figures from the government's fiscal and economic recovery plan show that the commonwealth's long-running recession and fiscal crisis have crippled tax revenues and left the island in a ever-worsening cash-flow situation, even as it has slowed payments to suppliers, creditors and taxpayers due refunds.
The disclosure by Puerto Rico officials, which comes shortly before a meeting with creditors, seems to be aimed at prodding bondholders to cut a deal to offer Puerto Rico debt relief and to encourage Congress to give the island the ability to restructure its debt in an orderly fashion through some bankruptcy-type progress.