Puerto Rico’s governor signed a bill on Friday that is to allow certain public agencies on the island to buy up to US$400 million in tax and revenue anticipation notes (TRANs) as the government of the US territory seeks financial liquidity amid a worsening economic crisis.
The legislation aims in part to help boost the liquidity of the Puerto Rican Department of the Treasury, Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said.
“This measure is needed, given the absence of the government’s usual liquidity sources,” he said.
Some of the new agencies now authorized to buy such notes are government insurance companies that are flush with cash, Puerto Rico-based economist Vicente Feliciano said.
Banking institutions usually buy TRANs, but the governor’s move shows that investors might have been spooked by the island’s economic crisis, Feliciano said in a telephone interview.
“It is a sign of how critical the government’s situation is,” Feliciano said.
“The central government is looking for spare change underneath the rug to see what it can find,” he added.
Last fiscal year, the government issued US$1.2 billion worth of TRANs, with US$900 billion placed with banking institutions, according to statistics with Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank.
The newly approved bill said the bank is to be responsible for overseeing a new fund that will collect certain government revenue that the government can access if the Treasury’s monthly revenue forecasts exceed collections.
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