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Hurricane Katrina has caused immense damage in Puerto Rico and the United States territory is staring at a gaping abyss of even more debts that have already pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy. United States President Donald Trump, however, seemed unconcerned at the turn of events and took to Twitter yesterday to say that Puerto Rico is in 'Deep Trouble' due to the mounting debts.
Trump remains unmoved
According to a report by Bloomberg, there has been plenty of noise in Washington over the past few days to pressure the United States into providing additional aid so that the Puerto Rican government could stage a recovery.
However, Donald Trump seems unmoved by all such noise and in his tweets yesterday, The President wrote that unlike other states in the United States which suffered from hurricanes, Puerto Rico's government's massive debts will land the local government in big trouble. He went on to add that the debts which are owed to Wall Street institutions will have to be paid, despite the humanitarian crisis the territory is suffering from.
In a series of three tweets, Trump stated his thoughts on the debt crisis in Puerto Rico. He started off by tweeting, "Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble." In the next two tweets, he went on to write about the damaged electricity system and the Wall Street debts.
...It's old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017
...owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities - and doing well. #FEMA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017
Need for federal aid
Hurrican Katrina has caused damages worth billions of dollars in Puerto Rico and the local government's crippling debt burden means that the US territory will need federal aid in order to tide over this crisis.
According to the Bloomberg report, the country's economy is in dire straits and it had also defaulted on payments for its bonds earlier this year due to the shrinkage in its economy. In addition to that, the Puerto Rican government had even tried to evade its $70 billion debt burden by filing for bankruptcy in May this year.
The situation is such that the recovery process looks like an impossible task without federal aid.
The case for more federal aid is overwhelming and according to Bloomberg, the aid package needed to put Puerto Rico back on its feet could be as much as $30 billion. The Puerto Rico Electric Supply Authority, which is state-owned, is bankrupt as well and there is growing fear that a large number of citizens might have to live without power for the next few months.
