Puerto Rico Is Out of Bankruptcy With $22 Billion Debt Exchange

Puerto Rico’s ended its nearly five-year bankruptcy as the commonwealth restructured $22 billion of debt, a crucial step that aims to help the island’s economy and repair its finances.

The U.S. territory cut the debt down to about $7 billion Tuesday through a bond exchange where investors hand in their securities for new general obligations. The transaction effectively ends Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy and resolves a major chunk of the $74 billion of debt that the island and its agencies had racked up when the bankruptcy began in May 2017.

“Today, the Puerto Rico government formally moves on from fiscal instability ...