President-elect Hipólito Mejía chose 48-year old economist Frank Guerrero Prats as governor of the Central Bank starting 16 August 2000. The governor of the Central Bank is the highest-ranking economic officer of the government. A graduate in economy from the UASD, the state university, Guerrero carried out a master in political economy and development planning at a Venezuela university. Guerrero is the son of Ivelisse Prats, vice president of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano, and a congresswoman who has also been Minister of Education. Guerrero also did graduate studies in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, in Great Britain. Most of his career has been in government. In 1970 he worked at the National Planning Office, moving on to the Central Bank where he directed the Department of Foreign Exchange. He was sent as counselor to the Dominican Embassy in Venezuela from 1979-80 to assist in negotiations leading to the San José petroleum agreement. Later he traveled to London, to work as counselor at the Dominican Embassy from 1981-82, and represent the country before the world sugar, cacao, coffee and shipping organizations. He was the Central Bank’s first director of the Department of Foreign Debt from 1985-1990. He also represented the Central Bank before the Interamerican Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for five consecutive years. He left the Central Bank in 1990 to work as a private consultant. He is president of the economic commission of the PRD, economic advisor to the Senate and vice president of the Board of Directors of Universidad APEC.
