Puerto Rico governor says island can’t pay its public debt

FILE- In this April 30, 2015, file photo, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla delivers his budget address for the next fiscal year at the Capitol building in San Juan. Puerto Rico's governor believes the U.S. territory's $72 billion public debt is unpayable, his spokesman confirmed late Sunday, June 28, 2015, adding another blow to the international financial system already struggling with a possible default by Greece. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File) FILE- In this April 30, 2015, file photo, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla delivers his budget address for the next fiscal year at the Capitol building in San Juan. Puerto Rico's governor believes the U.S. territory's $72 billion public debt is unpayable, his spokesman confirmed late Sunday, June 28, 2015, adding another blow to the international financial system already struggling with a possible default by Greece. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)

By Associated Press June 29, 2015 3 min read

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – The governor is warning that Puerto Rico can’t pay its $72 billion public debt, delivering another jolt to the recession-gripped U.S. island as well as a world financial system already worrying over Greece’s collapsing finances.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla is hoping to defer debt payments while negotiating with creditors, spokesman Jesus Manuel Ortiz said Sunday night.

The comments came as legislators debate a $9.8 billion budget that calls for $674 million in cuts and sets aside $1.5 billion to help pay off the debt. The budget has to be approved by Tuesday.

Ortiz confirmed comments by Padilla that appeared in a report in The New York Times published late Sunday, less than a day before Garcia planned to meet with legislators and then go on television to deliver a public address.

“There is no other option. I would love to have an easier option. This is not politics, this is math,” Garcia is quoted as saying in the Times.