Puerto Rico aid rises from Maria

The executive director of a federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances said Monday that the island is likely to receive $20 billion more than initially estimated in federal relief as it rebuilds from Category 4 Hurricane Maria.

Overall, Puerto Rico is slated to receive $82 billion, said Natalie Jaresko, warning that the funds will help the struggling economy rebound but that gains will be short-lived unless there are tax and labor reforms.

“It continues to be absolutely critical,” she said of the reforms, which she did not specify. “We may have lost a window of opportunity.”

Jaresko met with reporters to outline a new fiscal plan for the U.S. territory, which has been in a recession for 12 years and is trying to restructure part of its more than $70 billion in public debt.

The board is scheduled to approve the new plan today, although it’s unclear whether the island’s government supports it. A spokesman for Christian Sobrino, the government’s representative on the board, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Government officials have previously rejected portions of the original plan.

The revised five-year fiscal plan, which serves as an economic blueprint for the island, anticipates a 6 percent increase in revenues and a 7 percent decrease in expenditures for this fiscal year.