Puerto Rico oversight board faces criticism over decade of debt management

A report titled ‘Lost Decade 2016-2026: The True Face of the Board in Puerto Rico’ evaluates the impact of the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) ten years after the passage of the PROMESA Act. The report, prepared by the Citizen Commission for the Integral Audit of Public Credit alongside several civic organizations, critiques the board's management of Puerto Rico's $72 billion public debt.

Critics argue that the FOMB has prioritized budget balancing to repay debt over addressing the underlying economic and political models that caused the crisis. The report suggests that the oversight process has functioned as a colonial layer of governance that remains detached from the needs of the local population.