Puerto Rico to default on $422 million debt payment

The Puerto Rican Capitol Building.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Puerto Rico will default on $422 million in debt payments due Monday, Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced Sunday, adding the "decision not to pay has been a very difficult one, and one that frankly I would rather not take."

In a televised address, Garcia Padilla said Puerto Rico is "faced with the lack of liquidity to meet both the needs of our creditors and to provide services to our people. I had to choose. And I chose." Government officials spent the weekend attempting to negotiate with creditors, and some payments have been postponed for the time being. Another $700 million is due to creditors in early July.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.