Over the past 12 years, financial support to Petroperú has added more than S/24,000 million. Between 2022 and 2024 alone, S/17,000 million have been disbursed for the company to comply with its debt obligations, but is so much State spending justified on a company that stopped being profitable many years ago?
A survey of Ipsos for Peru21 revealed that only 6% of people consider that this bailout of the company is justified, while 84% assure that it would have been better to allocate that money to other sectors such as education, health, or to combat crime.
When asked about what should be done with the company within the framework of the reorganization of the oil company established in emergency decree 010-2025, 58% of those surveyed assured that the public company should be sold or liquidated, while 25% responded that more money should be allocated to revive it, even if that means reducing the budget in other areas or raising taxes.
PRIORITIES
After learning these results, the former Minister of Economy and Finance (MEF) David Tuesta stated that one of the things that the survey demonstrates is that people are clear about what the real priorities of the State should be, especially in a country with so many gaps. “The population wants to stop giving million-dollar bailouts and for the money to be allocated to the true needs that exist in the country,” he said.
For this reason, he considered that this survey should give all the security and firmness to the Executive so that it can move forward at a firm pace with the long-awaited restructuring of the oil company, “since it is clear that it has the support of the majority of people in the country, so the change is open to big changes.”
Along the same lines, the former head of the MEF, Luis Miguel Castilla, also pointed out that, indeed, the resources allocated to the State company should have been for other items. “But let us remember that the initial approved allocation (for the Talara Refinery) was multiplied by four after these years and seen this way, it is evidently an oversized investment,” he added.
It should be noted that initially it was estimated that the refinery would require an investment of US$1.7 billion, however, the figure increased to approximately US$6.0 billion.
For his part, the former president of the oil company Carlos Paredes referred to the 6% of people who justify the expense that the state company has meant for the country. In this regard, he considered that they could have an interest in “the opaque Petroperú” continuing to operate at the expense of the health, education and security of all Peruvians.
“There are many Peruvians who do not have minimal information on the subject and respond based on prejudices,” he commented.
SURPRISES
Furthermore, Carlos Paredes pointed out that it is “surprising” that there are 25% of people who still believe that the solution to the Petroperú problem starts by allocating more resources than those already granted by the State to the state-owned company.
For this reason, he considered it necessary to educate the population so that they understand why they cannot continue wasting more money on a company like this.
Likewise, Luis Miguel Castilla said that it is “difficult to understand” why a quarter of the population wants more public resources to be allocated to this company.
“Any policy that allows the company to be handed over to the private sector or a form of public-private partnership, which ensures that the drain on public resources ends, would be indicated. It is curious that one in four Peruvians wants the resources of the Public Treasury to end up in the coffers of Petroperú,” he added.
Meanwhile, for David Tuesta, the fact that almost 60% of those surveyed believe that the company should be sold or liquidated shows that they are fed up with everyone’s money continuing to be wasted.
“They are tired of money being disbursed in a company that only makes losses and that maintains an enormous golden payroll from which unions, suppliers and all those who negotiate with the state oil company live,” he commented.
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