Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Laureate, on Saving Puerto Rico

Your Feb. 21 editorial “To Save Greece, Save Its Economy” was on target in criticizing proposals by European officials that require Greece to sustain a primary surplus of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, a sure recipe for continuing the depression that has afflicted Greece since 2010.

Closer to home, though, the board appointed to oversee Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring is demanding something even worse: It actually predicted that its proposals would turn the island’s recession into a depression, of a magnitude seldom seen around the world — a decline of 16.2 percent of gross national product in the next fiscal year, comparable to the experience of countries in civil wars, and Venezuela in economic crisis in 2016. Unemployment, already at 12.4 percent, would soar.

The plan, which puts the creditors’ interests above those of the island’s economy and people, will create a debt spiral. As in Greece, the debt/gross domestic product ratio will rise, and with it the likelihood of ever-deeper debt write-downs. American taxpayers will lose, too, as they will pay for the costs of increased migration to the mainland.

One of the untold costs of the Trump era is that vital issues such as this are getting no attention.

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

New York

The writer, a Nobel economics laureate and a Columbia University professor, is a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and a former chief economist at the World Bank. He is a member of the Growth Commission of the Center for a New Economy, a Puerto Rico nonpartisan N.G.O.

Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Laureate, on Saving Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Tourism Company announces increased Southwest Airlines flights to Puerto Rico

Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC), Jose R. Izquierdo II, announced Southwest Airlines will extend its itinerary of flights to Puerto Rico beginning June 4, 2017. The Boeing 737 aircraft will begin a direct route to San Juan from Chicago Midway International Airport and increase the frequency of flights from Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Tampa and Orlando.

The Chicago-San Juan route is the second flight route added to Southwest Airlines itinerary, following the Newark-San Juan route which began on Dec. 17, 2016. In addition to the increase in direct routes between major continental United States airports and Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, these flights will increase options for travelers looking to enjoy the best of the Caribbean, as Southwest offers service in more than 100 destinations in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

"The addition of flights and frequencies in the air routes offered by Southwest Airlines will facilitate the increase of visitors to the Island. This increase will result in a greater contribution of the tourism industry to the economic development of Puerto Rico. PRTC is working with Aerostar to attract new airlines to our market, while continuing to expand services with existing airlines,” said Izquierdo II.

Southwest Airlines extended its flight itinerary for bookings until Aug. 14, 2017.

- See more at: https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/puerto-rico-tourism-company-announces-increased-southwest-airlines-flights-to-puerto-rico#sthash.der41Wkj.dpuf




Puerto Rico Tourism Company announces increased Southwest Airlines flights to Puerto Rico

DHL Invests Close to $1 Million in Puerto Rico in 2016

DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist within Deutsche Post DHL Group, announced it is celebrating 10 years as a dedicated Life Science Competency Center, out of the approximately 60 years it has been in operation in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Additionally, this year it is opening four new temperature-controlled storage chambers in San Juan. The 6,792-sq ft DHL warehouse was expanded to six times its original size into environmentally-controlled cold chambers.

“Through our investments, we have shown we believe in Puerto Rico’s growth potential, and we are confident we are part of the engine that can help it regain its solid economic footing in the global marketplace,” said David Bang, global head of DHL Temperature Management Solutions/CEO LifeConEx, DHL Global Forwarding. “Given its strategic location, Puerto Rico has been an important launch point for DHL to the Americas, Europe and Asia, and as one of the DHL certified life science stations, it provides services and coverage to more than 2,000 trade lane pairings in secure and compliant manner.”

Operating for close to six decades as Air Express International, in 2016 alone, DHL Global Forwarding invested close to $1 million in the market. In 2007, San Juan became a part of DHL’s Life Science Competency Center global network, comprised of more than 100 Centers worldwide.

Most recently, it invested in dividing its current warehouse in San Juan into three independently-operated cold chambers with a combined capacity of 480 pallets. Each of the three chambers operates at 15 to 25° C and has 100 percent redundant refrigeration systems. The chambers also have a hot gas injection system to maintain required relative humidity levels during operation. Additionally, the company offers one chamber operating at 2 to 8°C, with a combined capacity of 90 pallets. The renovated cold chambers are part of the TSA’s Certified Cargo Screening Facilities (CCSF) program, which allows for on-site cargo screening and compliance auditing.

“Within the last decade, pharmaceutical companies have increasingly invested in Puerto Rico, and these companies need a strong network and cold chain infrastructure to handle their delicate medicines and pharmaceutical products,” said Frank Cascante, head of Business Development Americas for DHL Temperature Management Solutions, DHL Global Forwarding. “DHL Global Forwarding has expanded to meet the growing needs of this important pharmaceutical market by offering it our cutting-edge temperature-controlled services.”

In the second quarter of 2017, the DHL Global Forwarding San Juan facility will join the 30 DHL stations worldwide to be awarded the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) in Pharmaceutical Logistics certification. San Juan is already an accredited Qualified Envirotainer Partner (QEP), endorsing DHL Global Forwarding’s management of shipments moving in Envirotainer containers. It is also a part of DHL Global Forwarding’s Air Thermonet network, a global Good Distribution Practice (GDP) standard for time– and temperature-sensitive air freight shipments, providing seamless temperature visibility along the supply chain.

As part of its customer-centric focus, in 2016 the company launched a series of free customer workshops, aimed at further equipping its customers to stay up to date on the recent logistics trends, changes and compliance topics impacting their businesses. One free workshop is planned for each quarter of 2017.

On the internet: dpdhl.com/press

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DHL – The logistics company for the world

DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL family of divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management. With about 340,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global trade flows. With specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and health care, energy, automotive and retail, a proven commitment to corporate responsibility and an unrivalled presence in developing markets, DHL is decisively positioned as “The logistics company for the world.”

DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of more than 59 billion euros in 2015.

Contacts

DHL Media Relations
Media Contact:
Jennifer Pakradooni, +1-954-260-7082
Email: jennifer.pakradooni@dhl.com

DHL Global Forwarding's ribbon cutting ceremony in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from left to right: Frank Cascante, head of Business Development Americas for DHL Temperature Management Solutions, DHL Global Forwarding; David Bang, global head of DHL Temperature Management Solutions/CEO LifeConEx, DHL Global Forwarding; and Javier Aleman, station manager and Thermonet manager, DHL Global Forwarding, Puerto Rico. (Photo: Business Wire)

• This is a year of celebration for DHL Global Forwarding, which has been operating in San Juan for close to 60 years
• Close to $1 million invested in facility upgrades and service offerings in the last year
• Company opens four new temperature controlled chambers in San Juan

DHL Invests Close to $1 Million in Puerto Rico in 2016

Cash-Strapped Puerto Rico Gives Rum Companies Big Tax Rebates: Report

Puerto Rico's cash-strapped government has been losing money through a rebate it gives its rum companies to compete with U.S. Virgin Island distillers, while the rum companies are enjoying an unprecedented cash windfall from it, according to a new report by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (Center for Investigative Journalism).

The report, "Puerto Rico's Unlimited Generosity Towards Rum Companies," finds that an amendment to the island's Internal Revenue Code made during the administration of Gov. Luis Fortuño (2009-2013) increased the rebate rum companies receive from 10 percent to 40 percent.

The report states that the island has missed out on hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in just the last few years, $434 million since 2011 alone, while rum companies are flush with cash. They also found that while rum companies have increased production in Puerto Rico by 11 percent in the last several years, the companies pay 18 percent less in taxes to the island government.

The rebate works in this way: the United States government reimburses the island government for a tax Puerto Rico pays on rum produced on the island, which is sold to the U.S. mainland. The island government then gives a portion of that rebate back to the rum companies.

In 2007, the U.S. Virgin Islands started offering incentives to increase rum production there and lured the brand Captain Morgan from Puerto Rico to the USVI in 2008. Puerto Rico answered with an increase in rebates to rum companies, which has cut into revenue used by the government for economic development programs, infrastructure, and other government operations and for paying its public employees, who represent 26 percent of the island workforce, according to report by the journalism center or CPI in Spanish, an independent, non-profit group founded in 2008 in San Juan.

The biggest beneficiary of the rum rebate change has been Bacardí, the world's largest rum producer. Bacardí told the researchers that the rebate is important and that it uses those funds for marketing and production, including modernizing and renovating several facilities on the island.

"We had no intention of leaving Puerto Rico, but the changes prevented the (Bacardí) operations from being affected by the unfair competition posed by the attractive incentives offered by the U.S. Virgin Islands to rum producers," Eduardo Vallado-Moreno, Bacardí's regional vice president of supply and manufacturing for the Americas, told the CPI.

Island economist Ramón Cao, cited in the report, disagrees. "These incentives are a bad idea. It is a zero-sum game where in the end the players are worse off because who benefit are the industries that take the money that is supposed to be used to repair roads, build hospitals, and pay the teachers, which are the things a government should do," Cao said.

The rum rebate investigation was released while the island is in the throes of a crushing debt of more than $70 billion and an ongoing financial crisis so dire that Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló - in office just a month - has warned the government will run out of money to pay its public employees this month.

The Rosselló administration says it will review the rum rebate system and could consider amending it or eliminating it altogether.

by PATRICIA GUADALUPE
Cash-Strapped Puerto Rico Gives Rum Companies Big Tax Rebates: Report

Puerto Rico Passes ‘Emergency’ Law Regulating $70 Billion Debt

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello signed legislation that allows the island to set aside money for necessary government services while paying off its $70 billion debt.

The newly-appointed politician passed the Puerto Rico Financial Emergency and Fiscal Responsibility Law Sunday, freezing debt payments until May 1. Until then, he is expected to allocate funds to government-run health, education, law enforcement, and infrastructure institutions in a “lockbox” to ensure their payment, Reuters reported.

Rossello took office on Jan. 2, representing the pro-statehood New Progressive Party.

“What this law allows us to do is, based on Puerto Rico’s resources, comply with those who have invested, with those who have believed in Puerto Rico, while denoting that our priority is to pay for essential services and the people’s work,” Rossello said during a Facebook Live announcement.

“As you will see within the coming days, it will be a very powerful instrument to allow the people of Puerto Rico and also the government to restore credibility, but also to maintain the essential services that are so important for our people.”

The bill also allows Rossello to reverse former governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla’s executive actions on debt regulation. Padilla, a member of the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party, issued a moratorium on debt payments last year which was opposed by creditors and bondholders — it granted the Puerto Rican government the option to default on payments.

Rossello’s prioritizing of debt payments contrasts Padilla’s refusal to submit a debt repayment plan. The latter claimed that an April 2016 Moratorium Act gave Puerto Rico the right to cancel parts of its debt.

While many U.S. municipalities have the legal right to declare bankruptcy — which allows for the protection of core services and public assets — Puerto Rico’s colonial status denies it the same option.

Earlier this year, Rossello expressed interest in convincing U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to consider making Puerto Rico the country’s 51st state.

“The Republican platform is very clear in terms of the status of Puerto Rico,” Rossello said during an interview.

“Having a Republican House, a Republican Senate and a Republican president, there's no excuse for not carrying it out.”

Puerto Rico, referred to as a “commonwealth” by the U.S., has been a colony of the North American country since 1898 after ceding from the Spanish empire. Puerto Ricans currently do not have the right to vote in presidential elections and have no voting powers in the U.S. Congress.

The new legislation will allocate funds to government-run institutions in a "lockbox" while ensuring payment of Puerto Rico's debts.



Puerto Rico Passes ‘Emergency’ Law Regulating $70 Billion Debt