U.S. Tells Puerto Rico It's Not Broke Enough to Get Loans
- FEMA will distribute loans once cash balance decreases
- Operations fund had $1.7 billion on hand in late December
A mother holds her baby at their makeshift home, under reconstruction, after being mostly destroyed by Hurricane Maria, in San Isidro, on Dec. 23, 2017.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images South AmericaThis article is for subscribers only.
Puerto Rico may have too much cash to get a loan.
That’s the view of the federal government. The storm-ravaged U.S. territory, where many residents are still without electricity almost four months after Hurricane Maria, is at risk of not receiving federal community disaster loans because its cash balances may be too high, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency wrote to Puerto Rico in a letter dated Jan. 9.