Fresh off a setback on his tax reform plan, Puerto Rico's governor laid out a recovery roadmap on Thursday for the U.S. commonwealth's struggling finances.
In his state of the Commonwealth address, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla chastised the Puerto Rico House of Representatives for rejecting tax changes critical to his financial recovery plan, saying it made recovery harder but not impossible.
Padilla said he will form a group of financial experts charged with improving Puerto Rico's liquidity and another to take on a reorganization of the government.
He also released an agenda that calls for spending cuts in all government branches without layoffs, a fiscal 2016 budget based on recurring revenue that he plans to unveil in a few weeks, a rejection of any hasty or improvised taxation ideas, and restructuring the treasury department to increase revenue collections.
The agenda calls for continued talks with creditors, and the pursuit of U.S. Congressional approval to allow municipal bankruptcy for commonwealth entities.
The Caribbean island of 3.6 million is struggling with debt of more than $70 billion, an economy that has been in or near recession for eight years, and a budget that regularly shows a deficit. Some estimates say up to 25 percent of Puerto Rico's economy is informal.
(Reporting by Karen Pierog and Fiona Ortiz in Chicago. Editing by Andre Grenon)
After setback, Puerto Rico governor lays out recovery agenda
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