Puerto Rico may default on at least some of its bond payments as early as Jan. 1, 2016, which might lead some bondholders to file suit and others to hold off to see if the U.S. commonwealth might recover some liquidity.

By the new year, the Puerto Rican government might be able to come up with about $330 million due on general obligation bonds. But the debt-ridden island territory owes bondholders a total of about $1 billion on the January deadline, the New York Times reported.

Gov. Alejandro García Padilla is set to address the debt crisis at a press conference on Dec. 30, though Garcia has already admitted that Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt is unpayable and needs to be restructured, Reuters reported.

The government in San Juan has already predicted that some of the payment due will not be paid, which might soon lead to litigation with bondholders, the newswire detailed. Authorities have been negotiating with creditors to try and persuade them to take a reduction, but so far no deal has been reached.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, meanwhile, acknowledged the bleak picture and that it was "inevitable" for Puerto Rico to start missing bond payments, though he noted that such a default might not necessarily occur on Jan. 1.

"Look, they're effectively in default," Lew admitted on Dec. 28. "They've already been taking money out of pension funds to pay current bills. They've been shifting money from one creditor to pay for another creditor. That's effectively default. You don't have to wait until you miss a coupon payment to say you're in default."

Nevertheless, the Treasury has been pushing Congress to allow Puerto Rico to restructure its debts under U.S. bankruptcy law, an option that is not currently available to the commonwealth, Reuters noted. But the House of Representatives will take up the territory's financial crisis only after the dust from the Jan. 1 deadline has settled; a first hearing has been schedule for Jan. 5.

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