The 5th anniversary of the enactment of PROMESA has come and gone. PROMESA (Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act), is a US federal law enacted in 2016 that established a financial oversight board, a process for restructuring debt, and expedited procedures for approving critical infrastructure projects in order to combat the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis. Center for a New Economy has published an important policy brief outlining how US federal fiscal intervention overseeing Puerto Rico's finances has failed.

By replicating mistakes perpetrated by global financial institutions in dealing with Greece and other nations, the “Tropical Troika” made possible by Puerto Rico’s colonial status has led PROMESA to fail to accomplish most of the objectives set forth by its authors: about 2/3 of the bonded debt has not been restructured; no critical projects for economic development have been approved; audited financial statements are still three years in arrears; the shift to budgeting on a modified accrual accounting basis is a work in progress; and the government’s budget is still out of balance

Read the full report here.