Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury resigns

Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Financial Officer Francisco Parés Alicea will resign effective Jan. 31.

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced the resignation and said Nelson Pérez Méndez will serve as the interim Secretary of the Treasury. Pérez Méndez was deputy director of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority, focusing on the central government debt restructuring. He has also worked on financial statements for the Treasury Department.

Parés Alicea “has been an undisputed leader in the transformation of the Treasury Department to be more agile, reliable and offer a better service to our citizens,” Pierluisi said. Under him the department instituted a digital platform unifying the department’s tax administration, disbursed refunds more quickly, and introduced a work credit, the governor said. 

During Parés Alicea’s tenure general fund revenues have generally come in ahead of the projections of the Puerto Rico Oversight Board.

Former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló appointed Parés Alicea Secretary of the Treasury in June 2019. He also worked under Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced.