Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

Business Matters

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Money

Donald Trump receives big cash pledges despite conviction

Global business and finance news and discussion from the BBC

Global business and finance news and discussion from the BBC.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Business Matters: Puerto Rico Defaults on Debt Payment

News

Puerto Rico Defaults On Debt Payment

03/05/2016 GMT

Puerto Rico Defaults on Debt Payment

BBC World Service - Business Matters, Puerto Rico Defaults on Debt Payment

Puerto Rico will not be able to make its latest debt repayment of $470m

Puerto Rico will not be able to make its latest debt repayment of $470m without threatening basic services to the island's 3.5 million residents.

The clock is ticking for Puerto Rico. The territory is $72billion in debt. A staggering 45% of its population live in poverty. Unemployment is running at 12% - more than double the US figure. Now the administration in San Juan has announced that it will not be able to make its latest debt repayment of $470m without threatening basic services to the island's 3.5 million residents. And, since Puerto Rico is not a state it cannot make use of the US insolvency code - and therefore has no bankruptcy protection from creditors. The administration has already seen a succession of protests from anxious workers, as we hear from Nick Brown, Reuters bureau chief in San Juan. 

It is Budget Day in Australia and with maybe as little as two months to go before the general election, it is widely seen as a campaign pitch by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his Liberal Party. Peter Ryan, Business editor at ABC Radio Current Affairs, gives us his thoughts. 

We also look at two international agreements - the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which has brought together 12 nations from Asia and the Americas, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - currently being negotiated between the US and the EU, in protracted sessions. 

Our two guests throughout the show are Lori Wallach, director and founder of Global Trade Watch and Alex Frangos, Asia editor of Heard on the Street at the Wall Street Journal, in Hong Kong.

(Photo: The Puerto Rican Capitol building. Credit: Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Business Matters

Puerto Rico Defaults on Debt Payment

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service