In less than a week, Ricardo Rosselló Nevares's administration will reveal the true scope of their plan for the upcoming fiscal year, disclosing which programs and services will be given top priority for the government's operations, how they will avoid aggravating the fiscal crisis, and the agreements that will be ratified with the bondholders.

April 30th thus becomes an incredibly important date for an administration that's under the watchful eye of the Fiscal Control Board (FCB), which established this date as the deadline for the government to submit its budget for the next fiscal year. Along with this document, the administration must deliver a detailed implementation process for the certified Fiscal Plan, including the establishment of a $200-million reserve that will be needed as of June 30th.

Should this reserve not be established, the government may be forced to reduce working days for the public sector.

On Sunday, the director of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (FAFAA), Gerardo Portela, mentioned in written statements that they would be submitting the budget on time. 'FAFAA has made good progress in the budget development along with the Fiscal Oversight Board, in accordance with the Fiscal Plan approved on March 13, 2017. We will be submitting the budgets on or before April 30, 2017,' Portela revealed.

Aside from the creation of the budget, the day after April 30 (Monday, May 1st) will be the expiration date for the stay on litigations enacted by PROMESA against the government's creditors. This term originally expired on February 15, but it was extended by the Board upon Governor Rosselló Nevares's request, in order to reach good-faith agreements with the state's creditors under Title VI of PROMESA. The federal act does not provide any further extensions to this deadline, and no other efforts were made in Congress to change it either.

The negotiations—which barely began a month ago—are taking place within an environment of secrecy among the creditors and personnel from FAFAA and the FCB. Meanwhile, COFINA's senior creditors agreed to enter a private mediation process with the government, even though the major creditors said they would not take part in this process. Starting on May 1, they will reveal their positions before federal District Judge Francisco Besosa.

Portela, for his part, pointed out on Sunday that the expiration of the stay on litigations would not affect the ongoing negotiation processes. 'FAFAA continues to actively negotiate with multiple bondholder groups, in conjunction with the Fiscal Oversight Board, seeking to strike agreements under Title VI of PROMESA. The term that expires on May 1, 2017 does not affect the continuity of the negotiations. The content of these negotiations is subject to confidentiality agreements, and therefore cannot be disclosed,' he said.

On the other hand, this will be the last week for the University of Puerto Rico to submit its own fiscal plan. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA), the Government Development Bank (GDB), the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (PRHTA), and the Public Corporation for the Supervision and Insurance of Cooperatives of Puerto Rico (COSSEC, by its Spanish acronym) already submitted their fiscal plans, but they have not been published or certified.

In the case of the UPR, interim President Nivia Fernández said on Thursday—during a meeting with the University Board's student representatives—that Rosselló Nevares's administration suggested launching a 10-year plan for budgetary cutbacks, in order to subtract up to $512 million from this contribution, which will remain frozen. Both the interim president and the governor have bet on a strategy to generate savings by reducing administrative costs, and to generate revenues through contracts with other government agencies.

On Monday, the UPR Governing Board will discuss the fiscal plan and decide if they will support this document, in order to submit it to the FCB for its consideration. This Board's Financial Affairs Committee has already rejected the scenarios contemplated by FAFAA for the UPR.