Puerto Rico Moves Closer Toward Finishing Sales-Tax Debt Deal

Puerto Rico moved closer toward slashing its sale-tax debt after the island’s oversight board finalized an agreement with bondholders and won support from some key creditors who were once at loggerheads in bankruptcy court.

The territory’s financial oversight board expects the plan, which would cut Puerto Rico’s sales-tax backed debt by 32 percent and save the government $17 billion, to win approval in bankruptcy court next month, according to a Sept. 21 statement from the oversight board.

The plan’s approval would mark a major step in the island’s effort to steady its finances and emerge from its record setting bankruptcy. ...