Puerto Rico government clarifies $2 billion discrepancy in financial statement

{Esto es el día antes de las Vistas Congresionales. Demostrando que AGP No Gobierna, que es todo improvisación. Por qué no Explican los cerca de $15 Billones adicionales que han desaparecido Sin Obras?}

Tuesday, November 24, 2015 08:30 PM

Puerto Rico government clarifies $2 billion discrepancy in financial statement

The Puerto Rico government filed Tuesday night a document in which it states it had pegged its total expenditures during fiscal year 2014 at $19.3 billion in its most recent updated financial reports — roughly $2.3 billion less than the actual figure.

The commonwealth had filed Nov. 6 its unaudited Financial Information & Operating Data Report as of June 30, in which it warned once again about Puerto Rico’s potential inability to continue to meet its debt obligations and provide essential services to citizens amid the severe cash crunch that has been affecting the island.

“This Errata Notice corrects an inadvertent error in the ‘Total Expenditures’ line item for fiscal year 2014 … resulting in ‘Total Expenditures’ of $21,620,133 under the ‘Total Governmental’ column, instead of $19,339,267,” the statement reads.

This was the only figure the commonwealth updated in the government’s most recent financial reports.

Issued : Wednesday, November 25, 2015 05:00 PM

Popular’s Carrión to testify in Dec. 1 U.S. Senate hearing over Puerto Rico crisis

Although witnesses have yet to be officially announced, CARIBBEAN BUSINESS has learned Popular Inc. CEO Richard Carrión will be among those testifying at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over the Puerto Rico fiscal and economic crisis on Dec. 1.

El afamado Economista Carlos Colón de Armas también ha sido invitado a testificar.

A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed to this newspaper his participation. Furthermore, according to a CB source, U.S. Treasury adviser Antonio Weiss would also be participating in the hearing. As of last week, La Fortaleza had yet to receive any formal invitation to testify at the U.S. Senate’s hearing, recently appointed Secretary of State Víctor Suárez told reporters during a weekly briefing session.

With jurisdiction over bankruptcy policy, the Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), is expected to discuss extensively the commonwealth’s efforts to secure inclusion under Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.

Yet, Grassley has reiterated that restructuring debt and “throwing taxpayer money at the island, without ensuring the creation and implementation of structural and fiscal reform, fails to resolve the underlying problems in Puerto Rico required to create economic growth.”

Moreover, he has supported having the federal government establish a fiscal control board on the island.

While announcing the hearing — dubbed “Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Problems: Examining the Source and Exploring the Solution” — Grassley said his goal is to help committee members and the public identify and gain a better understanding of the root cause of Puerto Rico’s fiscal problems, discuss what’s currently being done and consider what options are available that could help the island get itself out of its current situation.

According to the bank’s website, Carrión has been with Popular for more than 35 years, and has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1990, serving on its executive board from 2004 to 2012. In 2010, he was elected to the central board of the International Basketball Federation.