Above: Alejandro Garcia Padilla

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla has concluded a trip to New York City.

The Governor was in New York to meet with representatives of ratings agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor’s, joined by his economic team.

The purpose of the trip was aimed at “keeping informed on the financial and investment sector.”

The meetings were requested by the Puerto Rican government, which has been suffering from continued debt problems.

A United States Treasury spokeswoman recently told the Wall Street Journal that it was “monitoring” the situation in Puerto Rico, which owes $70 billion in debt.

“Since taking the reins of this government, my economic and fiscal team has worked together to implement significant measures to sustain development through through job creation and to seek to balance the government budget,” Padilla said in a statement last week. “The country knows that we inherited a daunting fiscal picture for a new government, and a devastating one for a country entering its seventh year of economic recession.”

Secretary of State David Bernier served as acting governor during Padilla’s absence.