Excerpt:
The Puerto Rico Oversight Board voted to overrule the territory’s House of Representatives on spending for the privatization of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority transmission and distribution system.
On Wednesday the House voted 43 to 0 with 2 abstentions against authorizing a revision to this year?s General Fund budget allocating $750 million for the privatization.
On Thursday the board said it had used its budgetary powers in the Puerto Rico, Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act to overrule the House vote. On Saturday the board had sent a letter to the leadership of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and Senate asking them to approve the funding and saying that if it did not the board would act without their approval.
The board said the monetary allocation was ?to ensure the necessary levels of working capital to operate PREPA?s electrical grid and comply with the agreement between LUMA Energy, PREPA and the P3 Authority, by which LUMA is to assume the operation and management of PREPA?s transmission and distribution system on June 1.?
Author(s): Robert Slavin
Publication Date: 14 May 2021
Publication Site: Fidelity Fixed Income News