“That there are sectors that have benefited? Yes, real estate, for example, has made a killing. But in the macroeconomic aspect, the impact is extremely limited”, pointed out the economist José Caraballo Cueto.
Blackouts and high electricity costs
After years of financial problems and recession, in 2017 Puerto Rico declared bankruptcy, the largest ever by a local administration in the United States.
Later that year, the double whammy of two hurricanes, Irma and Maria, deepened the misery, devastating the power grid on the island, which has suffered from severe infrastructure problems for years.
The network was privatized in June 2021 in an effort to resolve the blackout issue, but the problem persists and the entire island lost power earlier this year.
“There is clearly a widespread perception in Puerto Rico that Luma has not done its job and we can see this in the protests of the past few months that have occurred almost daily on the island that demand that the government inspect the company,” says the Puerto Rican journalist from BBC World Ronald Avila-Claudio.
Bianca Graulau also points out that Puerto Ricans have seen seven consecutive increases in their electricity bill, despite the fact that the service has not improved.
Fiona has only made the problems worse. On Tuesday afternoon, only 300,000 users had electricity in their homes (20% of the total) after the general blackout caused by the storm on Sunday, authorities reported.
With information from AFP
