Puerto Rico’s governor said on Thursday he has proposed to the U.S. territory’s fiscal oversight board a timeline to present the board with a financial turnaround plan in two weeks.
Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced the timeline as part of a televised address, ahead of the oversight board’s first meeting, scheduled for Friday morning in New York.
The oversight board was appointed by U.S. lawmakers and President Barack Obama to manage Puerto Rico’s finances and help stabilize an economy suffering from a decade-long recession, $70 billion in total debt and a poverty rate of 45%.
Under the federal law that created the board, the island’s governor is tasked with presenting a financial turnaround plan, which the board must revise and approve.