CNE – Centro Para Una Nueva Economía – Center for a New Economy
Non-profit, economic research and policy development organization
It has been a little over a year since Hurricane María fractured Puerto Rico’s infrastructure and its demographic and economic landscape. Currently, all the critical infrastructure—electricity, water, telecommunications, schools, and hospitals—is functional.
In the wake of the devastation resulting from hurricane María, the United States Federal Government mobilized numerous emergency relief efforts in Puerto Rico. Traditionally, Federal disaster response has been thought of as the “silver lining” that stems from a catastrophic event, given the millions of US Government dollars that are pumped into the local economy.
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
