Puerto Rico to sue control board over budget differences
PUERTO RICO’S governor announced Thursday that his administration will sue a federal control board to resolve a disagreement over two competing budgets that aim to pull the United States territory out of an 11-year recession.
Governor Ricardo Rossello said he is seeking an injunction to stop the board from imposing an US$8.76-billion budget that contains various austerity measures, and he accused it of trying to dictate the island’s public policy.
“Our north will always be to defend the most vulnerable in all forums,” he said in a statement.
The forthcoming lawsuit is a result of budget wrangling in Puerto Rico: One budget was approved by the board and another was approved by legislators and signed by Rossello earlier this week.
The differences over the budgets emerged after Puerto Rican legislators failed to repeal a law that affords protections to workers who might have been unfairly dismissed.
The board has said the measure was needed to help attract investors and that if it was repealed, it would not slash vacation and sick days or eliminate a yearly Christmas bonus for government employees as part of its austerity measures.
Rossello had promised the board that the law would be repealed and convened a special legislative session Tuesday, but senators shot down the measure for a second time.
Board spokesman Jose Luis Cedeno did not return a message for comment.
It is unclear when the issue could be resolved, but Puerto Rico economist Gustavo Velez told The Associated Press that the delay will have consequences on the island’s ability to recover from its economic and financial crisis.
“It creates uncertainty,” he said. “It makes it less likely that new investment will arrive and that we return to the capital markets.”
Velez said repealing the labour law would not have much of an impact on Puerto Rico’s economy despite what the board says, and that neither budget will help resolve the crisis.
“There’s still an excess of spending,” he said. “It’s not in tune with Puerto Rico’s fiscal reality, and it doesn’t address the payment of debt.”
Puerto Rico is trying to restructure a portion of its US$70-billion public debt load as it struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that caused more than an estimated US$100 billion in damage.