CNE – Centro Para Una Nueva Economía – Center for a New Economy
Non-profit, economic research and policy development organization
Puerto Rico is at a critical junction in the disaster recovery process after Hurricane María. Relief efforts, while still ongoing in certain parts of the island, are slowly winding down and soon will give way to recovery activities and the rebuilding of the island. It is, therefore, “a time of desperate loss, yet also a time of distinct possibility.”1
En Puerto Rico se está contemplando actualmente legalizar la práctica de otorgar préstamos por depósito diferido, conocida en inglés como “payday lending.” En términos generales, un préstamo por depósito diferido consiste de una transacción crediticia donde un prestamista le ofrece a un consumidor un préstamo a corto plazo a cambio de un cheque personal postdatado con un valor mayor, el cual el prestamista se compromete a no depositar o negociar hasta la fecha de vencimiento del préstamo.
I am writing on behalf of the Center for a New Economy (“CNE”), a Puerto Rico, non-partisan, not-for-profit, independent think tank, to convey our analysis of the Fiscal Plan presented by the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico on October 14, 2016 (the “Fiscal Plan”), pursuant to the formal Invitation to Comment issued by the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico (the “FOB”), which you preside. We thank you and the FOB for this opportunity to present our analysis and comments on the Fiscal Plan.
We are writing in response to the request for “stakeholder input” issued by the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Economic Growth in Puerto Rico (the “Task Force”), which was established pursuant to Section 409 of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (“PROMESA”).1
We are writing in response to the request for “stakeholder input” issued by the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Economic Growth in Puerto Rico (the “Task Force”), which was established pursuant to Section 409 of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (“PROMESA”).1
Puerto Rico experimenta una de las peores recesiones que se han registrado en el mundo durante la pasada década, segunda solo a la de Grecia que acumuló una caída de 28% en su Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) entre 2007-2015. La contracción de la economía de Puerto Rico comenzó en 2006 (antes que la crisis financiera de 2007 en EEUU) y ha ocasionado una reducción cumulativa de 14% del Producto Nacional Bruto (PNB) de la isla. Es por esto que se podría decir que la economía de Puerto Rico ha experimentado ya una “década perdida”.
The Puerto Rican economy has already experienced a “lost decade”—to use the term that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC, coined in the 1980s for Latin America and that has been widely used at the international level since then—and, if no action is adopted soon, it will continue on a negative path for the foreseeable future.
CNE has analyzed Puerto Rico’s economic and fiscal situation for more than a decade. During that period, we have carefully surveyed and considered the socioeconomic context and the rapidly deteriorating financial position of the island, and attempted to address some of the most pressing problems.
