U.S. TERRITORIES: Public Debt Outlook
Abstract
The United States has five territories: Puerto Rico, American Samoa, CNMI, Guam, and USVI. The territories, like U.S. states in some cases, borrow through financial markets. Puerto Rico in particular has amassed large amounts of debt, and defaulted on billions of dollars of debt payments. In response to the fiscal crisis in Puerto Rico, Congress enacted and the President signed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) in June of 2016, which established an Oversight Board with broad powers of budgetary and financial control over Puerto Rico and requires GAO to study fiscal issues in all five U.S. territories. In this report, for each territory for fiscal years 2005-2015, GAO examined (1) trends in public debt and its composition, (2) trends in revenue and its composition, (3) the major reported drivers of the territory's public debt, and (4) what is known about the ability of each territory to repay public debt. GAO analyzed the territories single audit reports; interviewed officials from the territories governments, ratings agencies, and subject matter experts; and reviewed documents and prior GAO work. GAO is not making recommendations in this report.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1177600
Entities
People
- David Gootnick
- Divya Bali
- Eddie Uyekawa
- Emil Friberg
- Karen Cassidy
- Steven Berke
- Susan J. Irving
- Tara Carter
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office