Puerto Rico senator seeks funds to make missed bond payment

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Puerto Rico senator has filed a resolution that would reassign $94 million to the island's Government Development Bank so it can make a bond payment that the U.S. territory missed earlier this week.

Sen. Gilberto Rodriguez said Friday the money would come from a fund slated for other upcoming bond payments.

The resolution has not been debated. The island's legislature reconvenes in one week.

Puerto Rico's Public Finance Corporation missed an Aug. 1 deadline to make a $58 million payment on moral obligation bonds. It made a partial payment of $628,000 in interest but did not have enough money to pay the remainder.

The non-payment prompted Oppenheimer Funds Inc. and Franklin Advisers Inc. to issue a letter addressed to Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank demanding that bondholders be paid.