At the end of October, the member of the Ancap board on behalf of the National Party, Richard Charamelo, said in an interview that the last increase in fuel prices that consumers’ pockets had suffered had been “to the limit” and that the government “absorbed that loss so as not to transfer it to the Uruguayans.”
“We are in a difficult situation because the price of oil has been rising and without a doubt that the Ancap report is not ideal and does not aim to lower fuel, but it is the government that will decide,” said the chief in talks with 970 Universal.
“Ancap does not have a back to absorb over the costs that it receives. We are already on the equilibrium line and if it continues to shoot, it will depend on the will of the Executive to compensate or else we will have to raise fuels when the time comes ”, added the chief, painting a complicated scenario for the state-owned company.
“If the Executive even decides not to increase, which may be one of the options, surely, the losses are not large because we have the savings and very little money,” he concluded.
Now there are accumulated profits
However, this November 2, the newspaper published an interview with the President of Ancap, Alejandro Stipanicic, talks about a company totally different from the one described by Charamelo. “From the purely economic point of view, the profits from the sales of UTE [de energía a Brasil] they give to maintain prices for several months, “said the senior manager.
Stipanicic has already raised his doubts to the Executive Power regarding the prices at which Ancap sells to UTE since, although the value to the citizenship does not adjust in two months, the values of the sales to the electricity company are set by means of a tariff prepared by the Regulatory Unit for Energy and Water Services (Ursea) and, if modified, will positively or negatively impact Ancap’s earnings.
For the president of the refiner, it should not happen that “it ends up subsidizing UTE (if diesel goes down or if it goes up less than the price of energy sales to Brazil goes up).”
The Broad Front has criticized the decision not to raise fuel prices until after the referendum against the 135 articles of the Law of Urgent Consideration is held, which the leftist forces see as a purely political move. According to publications of the weekly Search last week, the government of Luis Lacalle Pou would be analyzing to sustain fuel prices at any cost until after the popular consultation, which is to be held sometime in the first quarter of 2022.
