Puerto Rico seeks to delay debt payment

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico’s governor said Monday night he will form a financial team to negotiate with bondholders on delaying debt payments and then restructuring $72 billion in public debt that he says the U.S. island can’t repay.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla made the announcement just hours after international economists released a gloomy report on Puerto Rico’s economy in another jolt to the recession-gripped U.S. island as well as a world financial system trying to avoid a collapse in Greece’s finances.

Garcia said he would seek a repayment moratorium of several years but did not provide specifics.

The team has until Aug. 30 to develop an economic and financial reform plan that would require legislative approval.