La Fortaleza Public Affairs Secretary Jean Peña Payano said the government has yet to take a position on the latest debt-settlement proposal that the Financial Oversight and Management Board presented to the electric utility creditors. The offer is part of the ongoing judicial process to restructure Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) $9 billion debt, […]
La Fortaleza Public Affairs Secretary Jean Peña Payano said the government has yet to take a position on the latest debt-settlement proposal that the Financial Oversight and Management Board presented to the electric utility creditors.
The offer is part of the ongoing judicial process to restructure Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) $9 billion debt, one of the major unresolved fiscal matters still under the supervision of U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
The Puerto Rican government has not yet taken an official position on a $3 billion offer presented by the Fiscal Oversight Board to creditors who rejected the PREPA debt restructuring plan, a Fortaleza official said Thursday.
“That assessment is currently underway and will be shared as soon as the legal team and all parties involved on the Puerto Rican government’s side have completed their legal analysis,” Peña Payano said during a press conference.
When asked whether Gov. Jenniffer González Colón’s administration supports the proposal submitted to creditors who did not accept the restructuring agreement, Peña Payano said “because that offer is currently under discussion, as you so aptly put it, at this time there is no official position.”
“Judge Laura Taylor Swain has been—the one in charge of and overseeing the lawsuit regarding PREPA’s public debt restructuring,” he said.
Peña Payano emphasized that the PREPA debt restructuring case remains under federal court jurisdiction and that the government is closely monitoring the proceedings. The official described the restructuring of PREPA’s debt as one of the remaining major challenges in Puerto Rico’s fiscal recovery process. He added that responsibility for completing the restructuring ultimately falls on the government of Puerto Rico.
Peña Payano also connected the resolution of the PREPA case with the eventual dissolution of the Fiscal Oversight Board, saying the government views progress in the restructuring process as an important step toward ending the board’s oversight role.
“We know that this case is extremely important to help us exit the Board as well,” he said.
