Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello projected Thursday that his bankrupt, hurricane-ravaged territory will carry budget gaps for the next four fiscal years, leaving nothing to pay back its $72 billion in bond debt until 2022 Reuters reported.
Rosello released the projections Thursday in a revised fiscal turnaround plan, which assumes a minimum of $35.3 billion in federal aid through the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's public assistance program. The money would help the island recover from Hurricane Maria.
A previous plan projected $800 million a year for debt repayment, about a quarter of what it needs annually. That was before Maria killed dozens of people, cut power to millions of residents and damaged properties.
The new plan projects Maria will spur increased inflation and nearly triple a contraction in gross national product this fiscal year, as well as drive some 600,000 more people from the island in the next five years.
