Puerto Rico Governor Says Deficit Could Climb to $59 Billion
- Garcia Padilla gives cumulative 10-year deficit forecast
- Governor says more austerity will have intolerable effects
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Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said the island’s budget shortfalls will total as much as $59 billion over the next decade, underscoring the need to secure federal aid and reduce its debts.
Garcia Padilla’s projection was made at a meeting in New York of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, which was created by Congress to pull the territory from a years-long fiscal crisis. The estimate includes an end to $16 billion of federal health-care funding, the loss of manufacturing-tax revenue starting next year and rising contributions to its nearly depleted workers’ pension system.