Puerto Rico's total revenues in April, mainly through tax collections, totaled $1.28 billion and marked a drop of $47.7 million versus the same period a year ago, the U.S. territory's treasury secretary said on Monday.
The financially strapped island, which is struggling to pay for basic services such as health, police, and fire while facing a $70 billion debt load it says it cannot pay, saw corporate taxes increase but individual income tax collections decline.
April's corporate tax revenues rose by $32.5 million compared to the prior year to $409 million, Treasury Secretary Juan Zaragoza Gomez said in a statement.
However, a drop in individual income taxes, to $302 million this April from about $360 million a year ago, along with the loss of some non-recurring special taxes, led to the overall drop in revenues, the statement said.
The total $1.28 billion revenue figure was $76.2 million higher than revised estimates, the statement said.
Puerto Rico's economic future is a key focal point in municipal debt markets and in Washington, where federal lawmakers are debating a way to stabilize the island's bond debt, address a 45 percent poverty rate and rampant emigration of its population to the U.S. mainland.
The Obama administration has called on Congress to legislate a mechanism for Puerto Rico to restructure its debt, while putting the island's finances under federal oversight.
The Republican-led House Natural Resources Committee has crafted a bill aimed at achieving those goals, but it has stalled. Conservatives in the U.S. Congress are fighting against the idea of a court-sanctioned debt restructuring process while Democrats call for limitations on the federal oversight board.
Puerto Rico has defaulted on some of its debt already, and faces a critical $1.9 billion payment on July 1. (Reporting by Nick Brown; Editing by Daniel Bases and James Dalgleish)
Puerto Rico reports $1.28 bln in April revenues, dip from year-ago
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