WASHINGTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Today the Ad Hoc Group of Puerto Rico General Obligation Bondholders and its advisor, former Governor of New York, George Pataki, released a Memorandum for Policymakers on Puerto Rico. The memorandum, along with a presentation which can be found at www.FactCheckPuertoRico.org, includes analysis of financial material that was recently made public by the Center for Investigative Journalism.

Key excerpts from the memo:

• The (Commonwealth’s FY 2018) budget includes year over year public expenditure increases of $575 million; a fact which the Commonwealth attempts to obscure by reclassifying certain expenses as “below the line,” including two large slush funds (the $545 million “reconciliation adjustment,” and the $305 million “budgetary reserve”).

• The Board insists on projecting a decrease in the Commonwealth’s revenues and a contraction in the island’s GNP, in spite of contradictory information. Puerto Rico’s revenues are up, powered by robust consumer consumption.  Both tax collections and nominal GNP are at all-time highs.

• The Oversight Board uses these misleading projections to argue that the island has the capacity for only $400 million in debt service in the coming year. In fact, before pension payments, the Commonwealth is running a primary surplus of $3 billion for FY18.  It also has $1 billion less in accounts payable – spread over multiple years – than had previously been forecast by the Fiscal Plan. 

The memorandum for policymakers along with a more detailed presentation entitled “Puerto Rico: Separating Fact from Fiction” can both be found online at www.FactCheckPuertoRico.org.

For media inquiries, please contact Miriam Warren at [email protected].

SOURCE Ad Hoc Group of Puerto Rico General Obligation Bondholders