Puerto Rico faces what may be its biggest deadline in 10 days: pay investors nearly $1 billion in interest or push the island into a major debt default, Bloomberg reported. “To make a total payment will be almost impossible,” Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said Tuesday at the University of Puerto Rico. “If a partial payment is made: what bonds should we pay? It is an assessment that is being done.” Puerto Rico and its agencies racked up $70 billion by borrowing to paper over budget deficits. A $957 million interest payment is due Jan. 1, including $357 million for general-obligation bonds that the island’s constitution stipulates must be repaid before other bills.
