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Puerto Rican Government-debt Crisis
The Puerto Rican government-debt crisis was a financial crisis affecting the government of Puerto Rico. The crisis began in 2014 when three major credit agencies downgraded several bond issues by Puerto Rico to "junk status" after the government was unable to demonstrate that it could pay its debt. The downgrading, in turn, prevented the government from selling more bonds in the open market. Unable to obtain the funding to cover its budget imbalance, the government began using its savings to pay its debt while warning that those savings would eventually be exhausted. To prevent such a scenario, the United States Congress enacted a law known as PROMESA, which appointed an oversight board with ultimate control over the Commonwealth's budget. As the PROMESA board began to exert that control, the Puerto Rican government sought to increase revenues and reduce its expenses by increasing taxes while curtailing public services and reducing government pensions. These measures provoked soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Financial Crisis
A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises, and sovereign defaults. Financial crises directly result in a loss of paper wealth but do not necessarily result in significant changes in the real economy (e.g. the crisis resulting from the famous tulip mania bubble in the 17th century). Many economists have offered theories about how financial crises develop and how they could be prevented. There is no consensus, however, and financial crises continue to occur from time to time. Types Banking crisis When a bank suffers a sudden rush of withdrawals by depositors, this is called a ''bank run''. Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Nuevo Día
''El Nuevo Día'' (English: ''The New Day'') is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1909 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and today it is a subsidiary of GFR Media. Its headquarters are in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. History El Dia El Nuevo Día was founded in 1909 in the city of Ponce as "El Diario de Puerto Rico," later changing its name to "El Día" in 1911, a name it kept for nearly seven decades. Its founder was Guillermo V. Cintrón, with assistance from Eugenio Astol and Nemesio Canales. Its editorial staff consisted of Felix Matos Bernier, Juan Braschi, Nemesio R. Canales, Felix Astol, and Eugenio Deschamps. In 1928 Guillermo V. Cintron sold the paper to Guillermo Vivas Valdivieso who formed an editorial team consisting of the three Gil De Lamadrid brothers (Jesus, Joaquin and Alfredo), Enrique Colon Barega, and Julio Enrique Monagas, and published the paper until 1945. Under his directorship the paper also started distribution in San Juan, P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bond Credit Rating
In investment, the bond credit rating represents the credit worthiness of corporate or government bonds. It is not the same as an individual's credit score. The ratings are published by credit rating agencies and used by investment professionals to assess the likelihood the debt will be repaid. Credit rating agencies Credit rating is a highly concentrated industry with the "Big Three" credit rating agencies – Fitch Ratings, Moody's and Standard & Poor's (S&P) – controlling approximately 95% of the ratings business. Credit rating agencies registered as such with the SEC are "nationally recognized statistical rating organizations". The following firms are Nationally recognized statistical rating organization#List of NRSROs, currently registered as NRSROs: A.M. Best Company, Inc.; DBRS Ltd.; Egan-Jones Rating Company; Fitch, Inc.; HR Ratings; Japan Credit Rating AgencyKroll Bond Rating Agency Moody's Investors Service, Inc.; Rating and Investment Information, Inc.; Morningstar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Country Risk
Country risk refers to the risk of investing or lending in a country, arising from possible changes in the business environment that may adversely affect operating profits or the value of assets in the country. For example, financial factors such as currency controls, devaluation or regulatory changes, or stability factors such as mass riots, civil war and other potential events contribute to companies' operational risks. This term is also sometimes referred to as political risk; however, country risk is a more general term that generally refers only to risks affecting all companies operating within or involved with a particular country. Political risk analysis providers and credit rating agencies use different methodologies to assess and rate countries' comparative risk exposure. Credit rating agencies tend to use quantitative econometric models and focus on financial analysis, whereas political risk providers tend to use qualitative methods, focusing on political analysis. Howev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gross Domestic Product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is often revised before being considered a reliable indicator. List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita, GDP (nominal) per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation, inflation rates of the countries; therefore, using a basis of List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita, GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) may be more useful when comparing standard of living, living standards between nations, while nominal GDP is more useful comparing national economies on the international market. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the total population of the region is the GDP per capita, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tax Assessment
Tax assessment, or assessment, is the job of determining the value, and sometimes determining the use, of property, usually to calculate a property tax. This is usually done by an office called the assessor or tax assessor. Governments need to collect taxes in order to function. Federal, state and local governments impose tax assessments against real property, personal property and income. The word tax assessment is used in different ways but often refers to a tax liability owed by a taxpayer. In the case of property, a tax assessment is an evaluation or an estimate of value that is typically performed by a tax assessor. The assessment leads to an “assessed value,” which is a base number used in the calculation of the property tax. There is a relationship between the assessed value and the tax liability. The higher the assessment, the higher the tax bill. In some jurisdictions, the assessed value is meant to equal the market value of property. In other areas, the market va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sales Tax
A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a governing body directly by a consumer, it is usually called a use tax. Often laws provide for the exemption of certain goods or services from sales and use tax, such as food, education, and medicines. A value-added tax (VAT) collected on goods and services is related to a sales tax. See Comparison with sales tax for key differences. Types Conventional or retail sales tax is levied on the sale of a good to its final end-user and is charged every time that item is sold retail. Sales to businesses that later resell the goods are not charged the tax. A purchaser who is not an end-user is usually issued a "resale certificate" by the taxing authority and required to provide the certificate (or its ID number) to a seller at the point of purchase, al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
COFINA
The Puerto Rico Urgent Interest Fund Corporation (also known as the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation) —Spanish: ''Corporación del Fondo de Interés Apremiante'' (COFINA)— is a government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico that issues government bonds and uses other financing mechanisms to pay and refinance the public debt of Puerto Rico. The Corporation is a subsidiary of the Government Development Bank and was created by Law No. 291 of 2006. Bonds issued by COFINA are called Puerto Rico Sales Tax Revenue Bonds. Background The Corporation receives half of the state government portion of the Puerto Rico Sales and Use Tax (SUT) (2.75%, or half of the out of the state government’s portion of 6%) and is authorized to use such portion pay or finance, in whole or in part, or fund: # certain debt obligations of the government of Puerto Rico payable solely from government budgetary appropriations and outstanding as of June 30, 2006; # the debt of the Department ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puerto Rico Sales Tax Revenue Bonds
Bonds issued by the government of Puerto Rico and its subdivisions are exempt from federal, state, and local taxes (so called "triple tax exemption"). However, unlike other triple tax exempt bonds, Puerto Rican bonds uphold such exemption regardless of where the bond holder resides. This has made Puerto Rican bonds extremely attractive to municipal investors as they may inure from holding a bond issued by a state or municipality different from the one where they reside. This advantage strives from the restriction typically imposed by municipal bonds enjoying triple tax exemption where such exemptions solely apply for bond holders that reside in the state or municipal subdivision that issues them. This factor, along with many others, led Puerto Rico to issue bonds up to today's outstanding debt of US$71 billion—an amount approximately equal to about 68% of Puerto Rico's gross domestic product (GDP). These actions, along with a series of negative cash flows and a depression, ulti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Obligation Bond
A general obligation bond is a common type of municipal bond in the United States that is secured by a state or local government's pledge to use legally-available resources, including tax revenues, to repay bondholders. Most general obligation pledges at the local government level include a pledge to levy a property tax to meet debt service requirements, and holders of general obligation bonds then have a right to compel the borrowing government to levy that tax to satisfy the local government's obligation. Because property owners are usually reluctant to risk losing their holding from unpaid property tax bills, credit rating agencies often consider a general obligation pledge to have very strong credit quality and frequently assign them investment grade ratings. If local property owners do not pay their property taxes on time in any given year, a government entity is required to increase its property tax rate by as much as is legally allowable in a following year to make up for any ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitution Of Puerto Rico
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, Constitución del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico) is the controlling government document of Puerto Rico. It is composed of nine articles detailing the structure of the government as well as the function of several of its institutions. The document also contains an extensive and specific bill of rights. It was ratified by Puerto Rico's electorate in a referendum on March 3, 1952, and on July 25, 1952, Governor Luis Muñoz Marín proclaimed that the constitution was in effect. July 25 is known as Constitution Day. The United States maintains ultimate sovereignty over Puerto Rico. Under this Constitution, Puerto Rico officially identifies as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. History The United States government authorized Puerto Rico to draft its own constitution with a law passed in 1950. The Constitutional Assembly met for a period of several months between 1951 and 1952 in which the document was written. The law ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At the time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that it was the most severe economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression. One result was a serious disruption of normal international relations. The causes of the Great Recession include a combination of vulnerabilities that developed in the financial system, along with a series of triggering events that began with the bursting of the United States housing bubble in 2005–2012. When housing prices fell and homeowners began to abandon their mortgages, the value of mortgage-backed securities held by investment banks declined in 2007–2008, causing several to collapse or be bailed out in September 2008. This 2007–2008 phase was called the subprime mortgage crisis. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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