CNE – Centro Para Una Nueva Economía – Center for a New Economy
Non-profit, economic research and policy development organization
The Center for a New Economy (CNE) has been invited by the Committee on Natural Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives to share its expertise on the complexities of the Puerto Rico fiscal and economic crisis with committee members and staff.
Staff Briefing by Sergio M. Marxuach for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources on April 28, 2016.
Puerto Rico’s debt structure is inordinately complicated. With no access to a broad debt restructuring mechanism, the chaos that a disorderly default could bring would further erode bondholder value, increase restructuring costs, depress the local economy, and make long-term recovery harder to achieve.
La crisis económica y fiscal de Puerto Rico tardó años en gestarse y no se circunscribe exclusivamente al problema de la deuda pública. La raíz del dilema actual se encuentra en un modelo de desarrollo económico deteriorado y unas instituciones que han impedido el crecimiento. Por lo tanto, cualquier solución que adopte el gobierno federal debe reconocer la naturaleza compleja y plural de la crisis actual. A continuación esbozamos las recomendaciones principales del Centro para una Nueva Economía en relación al Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stabilization Act.
El autor colombiano Juan Gabriel Vásquez escribe en su novela “Las reputaciones” que “las certezas adquiridas en algún momento del pasado podían dejar de ser certezas con el tiempo: algo podía suceder, un hecho fortuito o voluntario, y de repente toda evidencia quedaba invalidada, lo verdadero dejaba de ser verdadero, lo visto dejaba de haber sido visto, y lo ocurrido de haber ocurrido: perdía su lugar en el tiempo y en el espacio; era devorado y pasaba a otro mundo, o a otra dimensión de nuestro mundo, una dimensión que no conocíamos.”
Puerto Rico’s drawn-out economic and fiscal crisis has prompted a series of debates on how to address a rapidly deteriorating socioeconomic situation. Amongst the options being discussed in the federal sphere is the establishment of a fiscal control board for Puerto Rico, similar to the one adopted in Washington DC, that would essentially command all aspects pertaining to government budgeting and spending. We strongly believe that this is not the only way forward.
“We are a country who has just discovered that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, a kid who catches Mom and Dad assembling gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve. It’s a shock.” Iram Ramírez is Senior International Representative and International Coordinator of Field Services for the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU /AFL-CIO) in San Juan.
As Washington debates whether or not to approve access by Puerto Rico to some version of Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the negative implications of a disorderly default looms large on the horizon of both island residents and bondholders.
