Puerto Rico faces bank closure, privatizations amid crisis

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Puerto Rico faces new measures to help offset its economic crisis including a water rate increase, privatization of government operations and the closure of a bank that once oversaw the island’s debt transactions.

Some of the upcoming changes were presented Friday to a federal control board overseeing the island’s finances.

Officials said the water rate increase will start in January and that the Government Development Bank will be liquidated within a decade.

The board met in New York City to review the fiscal plans just days before a May 1 deadline, when Puerto Rico might announce a deal with bondholders to restructure a portion of its $70 billion public debt or opt for a bankruptcy-like process.