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Structural reforms will be necessary if Puerto Rico is to stave off a severe debt crisis, a point that was reiterated on Tuesday, after the release of long-delayed financial data from fiscal year 2014.

The data reaffirms claims by Puerto Rico’s government that cast “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operating in the long-term. There is even uncertainty as to whether or not public services will be harmed if the Government Development Bank misses upcoming debt payments—payments that according to James Millstein, the Former Treasury Department’s chief restructuring officer, will be impossible to reach without significant reforms.

Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, is in the midst of an undeniable financial crisis, with a debt of $70 billion that it is currently trying to pay back. Coupled with a 45 percent poverty rate and shrinking tax base, the report claims that the Puerto Rican government is hoping for help from the U.S. Congress.

"The commonwealth's management believes that there is substantial doubt as to the ability of the primary government," as well as other government bodies, "to continue as a going concern," adds the 366-page report.

The Puerto Rican government does not expect to meet all of its 1 July general obligation debt payment, estimated at $800 million according to information obtained by the Reuters news agency.

The report also adds that the country faces a $49.2 billion deficit as of 30 June, 2014, a $2.5 billion increase from the year before.

Puerto Rico’s fiscal agent, the Government Development Bank, says that one of the main pressures from missing debt payments is that the country would fall below the legal reserve requirements in fiscal year 2016, thereby threatening government services.

Speaking to CNBC, Millstein, also an advisor to Puerto Rico, provided a basis for bringing Puerto Rico back from the brink.

If the government can fundamentally restructure its debt to where it reaches a sustainable level, it will not have to continue taking losses.

In addition, the government will have to generate surplus and increase revenues.

Millstein adds that Puerto Rico sends “over 30 percent of its revenue to debt service,” which when compared to even U.S. states with the highest debts like Hawaii, is still unsustainably high.

Legislation that would facilitate increased utility and thereby allow restructuring passed Puerto Rico’s Senate and is pending in the (equivalent) of the House of Representatives.

According to Reuters, the question of Puerto Rico's debt remains a major question in the U.S. municipal debt market.

The country’s requests for help from creditors and the U.S. Congress have been met with resistance, but ultimately the fate of the U.S. and Puerto Rico are entangled.

Some in Congress claim that Puerto Rico has not been forthcoming in its finances, citing the only recent release of data from fiscal year 2014.