Puerto Rico Urgent Interest Fund Corporation

Headquarters	Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Established	December 26, 2006 (2006-12-26)
Executive Director	José R. Otero-Freiría
Currency	USD

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 that issues government bonds and uses other financing mechanisms to pay and refinance the public debt of Puerto Rico. The Corporation is a subsidiary of the Government Development Bank and was created by Law No. 291 of 2006. Bonds issued by COFINA are called Puerto Rico Sales Tax Revenue Bonds.^[1][2][3]

Background

The Corporation receives half of the state government portion of the Puerto Rico Sales and Use Tax (SUT) (2.75%, or half of the out of the state government’s portion of 6%) and is authorized to use such portion pay or finance, in whole or in part, or fund:

1. certain debt obligations of the government of Puerto Rico payable solely from government budgetary appropriations and outstanding as of June 30, 2006;
2. the debt of the Department of Treasury with the Government Development Bank; and
3. others

As of May 2011, COFINA had issued over $14.4 billion in bonds pursuant to its Enabling Act, as amended, of which $13.4 billion were outstanding.^[3] As an independent corporation, COFINA has the same powers, rights and faculties as the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank under its Constitutional Charter.^[3]

Components of the Puerto Rico Sales and Use Tax, showing which part belongs to COFINA.

References