In the Virgin Islands, Hurricane Maria Drowned What Irma Didn’t Destroy
- 7 years ago
In the Virgin Islands, Hurricane Maria Drowned What Irma Didn’t Destroy
“We believe there is a large chance they will default,” said David Hitchcock, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s, which has said it plans to withdraw its ratings of the Virgin Islands — already at a level considered junk by investors — by October
because the government has stopped providing it with basic information on its cash flow and financial outlook.
And it’s like that — when you get out of the car and you’re trying to figure out what’s happening.”
The governor, Kenneth E. Mapp, said he expects that the hospitals on St. Thomas
and St. Croix, the most populated islands, will have to be torn down and rebuilt.
The government — the territory’s largest employer — had been able to pay its employees since the hurricanes and would do so again this week, he said.
The 103,000 people who live in these islands are at the end of a long supply chain of relief
that depends heavily on the ports in neighboring Puerto Rico — now crippled by Maria and unable to meet the needs of its own people.
“I’m so at a loss right now and really trying to hold it together
because we were on the brink before this, in terms of our finances,” Representative Stacey Plaskett, the Virgin Islands delegate to Congress, said in an interview.
Governor Mapp said in an interview this week that the territory had already made its bond payment due next month
and was not in danger of default or bankruptcy, which would have to be authorized by Congress, similar to what happened with Puerto Rico.
“We believe there is a large chance they will default,” said David Hitchcock, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s, which has said it plans to withdraw its ratings of the Virgin Islands — already at a level considered junk by investors — by October
because the government has stopped providing it with basic information on its cash flow and financial outlook.
And it’s like that — when you get out of the car and you’re trying to figure out what’s happening.”
The governor, Kenneth E. Mapp, said he expects that the hospitals on St. Thomas
and St. Croix, the most populated islands, will have to be torn down and rebuilt.
The government — the territory’s largest employer — had been able to pay its employees since the hurricanes and would do so again this week, he said.
The 103,000 people who live in these islands are at the end of a long supply chain of relief
that depends heavily on the ports in neighboring Puerto Rico — now crippled by Maria and unable to meet the needs of its own people.
“I’m so at a loss right now and really trying to hold it together
because we were on the brink before this, in terms of our finances,” Representative Stacey Plaskett, the Virgin Islands delegate to Congress, said in an interview.
Governor Mapp said in an interview this week that the territory had already made its bond payment due next month
and was not in danger of default or bankruptcy, which would have to be authorized by Congress, similar to what happened with Puerto Rico.