The

government-owned corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

s of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

—or public corporations ( es, corporaciones públicas)— are a set of corporate entities owned entirely or in large part by the

executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico The executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico is responsible for executing the laws of Puerto Rico, as well as causing them to be executed. Article IV of the Constitution of Puerto Rico vests the executive power on the Governor—w ...

or by its municipalities. The corporations engage in commercial activities with their revenues ultimately being allocated towards the government's treasury the

Puerto Rico Consolidated Fund The Budget of the Government of Puerto Rico ( es, Presupuesto del Gobierno de Puerto Rico) is the proposal by the Governor of Puerto Rico to the Legislative Assembly which recommends funding levels for the next fiscal year, beginning on July 1 an ...

or towards the corresponding municipal treasury. Some of them have been criticized since their creation since they are not profitable and depend on the issue of bonds or large indebtedness to operate, or because they constitute a

government monopoly In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law. It is a monopo ...

or control a unique asset (such as a port, toll, or land). As of 2015, the public corporations contributed to more than half of the

public debt of Puerto Rico The public debt of Puerto Rico is the money borrowed by the government of Puerto Rico through the issue of securities by the Government Development Bank and other government agencies. History In May 2007, local economists expressed serious con ...

—a factor that contributed significantly to the

Puerto Rican government-debt crisis The Puerto Rican government-debt crisis was a financial crisis affecting the government of Puerto Rico. The crisis began in 2014 when three major credit agencies downgraded several bond issues by Puerto Rico to "junk status" after the governmen ...

— with

COFINA The Puerto Rico Urgent Interest Fund Corporation (also known as the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation) —Spanish: ''Corporación del Fondo de Interés Apremiante'' (COFINA)— is a government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico ...

, PRASA, PRHTA, and PREPA being the largest holders.

Owned by the executive branch

As of November 2012, the

owned 52 government-owned corporations with an outstanding debt of $48.7B

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

Owned by the executive branch

Owned by municipalities

References

See also