Standard & Poor's downgraded Puerto Rico last week to CCC+ , giving the perennially struggling U.S. territory the same credit rating as Greece .

A roofless colonial building is overtaken by vegetation in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico has been called "Greece in the Caribbean" or "America's Greece" in light of its poor credit ratings, high debt levels and flagging economy with high unemployment.



But the situation is much less dire for the American territory than it is for Greece, in part because Puerto Rico's debt levels are a much lower percentage of its GDP, compared with Europe's "sick man." The CIA World Factbook places Puerto Rico's at 93.6 percent and Greece's at 174.5 percent.

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That difference gives the island's government more latitude for handling the situation, according Vicente Feliciano, president of San Juan-based Advantage Business Consulting.