On a visit to the city of Anguillara Veneta, in Italy, this Monday (1), President Jair Bolsonaro told the press that he learned “unofficially” that a new increase in fuels is being planned by Petrobras for 20 days. According to him, the subject will be a priority on his return to Brazil this Tuesday (2).
“This week will be a tough game with Petrobras, because I nominate the president, I mean, he has to go through the council, I’m not the one who nominates, and everything bad happens there falls into my lap. What is good does not fall into my lap”.
The ideal, in the president’s view, is to take the state-owned company “from the state’s clutches”, with the privatization of the company. “This is the ideal, in my opinion, which should happen. Now, that’s not putting it on the shelf and selling it tomorrow. This process will take more than a year”, he admitted.
Still in Bolsonaro’s assessment, a new readjustment cannot happen. “We can’t stand it because the price of fuel is linked to inflation and you talked about inflation, you talked about loss of purchasing power. The population has no salary preserved over the past few years. The poorest suffer,” he said.
Listen on the National Radio Agency: Bolsonaro visits the city of ancestors in Italy
The president said he is willing to re-discuss the company’s pricing policy, but without interfering with “shareholder returns.”
President Bolsonaro added that the federal government has no interest in the dividends received from Petrobras’ profits. In this sense, he said that he has been talking to the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, so that these resources are reverted to reduce the price of diesel.
The president attributed the rise in fuel prices to the corruption of past governments and old laws. Bolsonaro defended the tax freeze and pointed out as the “villain” of the final cost at the pump the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS).
Last week, the National Council for Finance Policy (Confaz), which includes secretaries of Finance from the states and the Federal District, approved the freezing of the ICMS value charged on fuel sales for 90 days.
