The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), reacted on Thursday night (16) to Petrobras’ decision to reject the federal government’s request to hold fuel prices, saying that the company is in “a state of of war” against Brazil. The deputy also pointed to “a bombing of a new increase in fuel”.
Lira used her social media to comment on the result of the extraordinary meeting of the Petrobras Board of Directors, in which the collegiate reinforced that the decision on prices is the responsibility of the state-owned company’s board.
The company is expected to announce a readjustment in the price of diesel in the coming days and the meeting was a last card by the government to try to avoid the increase.
Along the same lines, Minister Ciro Nogueira (Casa Civil) called for “enough is enough” and said that the company “cannot abandon Brazilians in the biggest crisis of the last century”.
“The Federative Republic of Petrobras, an independent country and in a declared state of war against Brazil and the Brazilian people, seems to have announced the bombing of a new increase in fuel,” wrote the president of the Chamber in a post on Twitter.
“While we try to alleviate the drama of the most vulnerable in this unprecedented world crisis, the Brazilian state-owned company that has a social function acts as a friend of billionaire profits and an enemy of Brazil,” he added.
Petrobras has not readjusted the price of gasoline for 97 days. The price of diesel was last raised 37 days ago. With oil on the rise and the real losing value against the dollar, the company had been signaling that it would make adjustments soon.
The Brazilian company has been under attack from President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the summit of the National Congress, who criticize billionaire profits and dividend payments at a time of high fuel prices and, consequently, inflation.
In a live broadcast this Thursday, Bolsonaro said that if Petrobras grants a new fuel adjustment at this time, it would be to hit his government.
Minister Ciro Nogueira (Casa Civil) also used his social media to ask for “enough” and said that Petrobras cannot continue with such “insensitivity”.
“Enough is enough! The time has come. Petrobras does not belong to its directors. It belongs to Brazil. And it cannot, therefore, continue with such insensitivity, ignore its social role and abandon Brazilians in the biggest crisis of the last century”, he wrote.
On the other hand, the company’s management argues that the maintenance of lagged prices creates a risk of diesel supply in the country.
Suffering wear and tear due to high fuel prices, four months before the election — in which Bolsonaro is seeking reelection — the federal government bet on a tax reduction package to try to hold down prices. In addition to Petrobras, the Chief Executive has been waging a war with the governors, whom he accuses of being responsible for the high prices for not reducing state tax rates.
This week, the National Congress approved a complementary bill that establishes a ceiling of 17% and 18% of ICMS on fuel, energy, telecommunications and transport. The proposal determines that these goods are now considered essential and therefore subject to this ceiling.
During the Senate —House closest to the states—the text gained some mechanisms that sought to reduce the impact on the states. It determined, for example, that the government should compensate the states whenever there is a drop of more than 5% in ICMS collection with these four goods and that the inflation of the period should be considered in this calculation.
The Chamber, on the other hand, rescued the original proposal that determined that the 5% variation should refer to the entire ICMS collection and excluded the provision referring to inflation.
The approved text also contains measures announced by Jair Bolsonaro, who zeroed out federal taxes on fuel by the end of 2022. The bill went on to Bolsonaro’s sanction
Another government bet is on a PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) presented by the government leader in the Senate, Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), which provides for up to R$ 29.6 billion in transfers to states that decide to zero state tax rates. about fuels. The proposal should be voted on next week.
The rapporteur of the complementary law project and the PEC, the former leader of the government Fernando Bezerra (MDB-PE), estimates that the complete package can lead to a reduction of R$ 1.65 in the price of a liter of gasoline and R$ 0.76 in the liter of diesel.
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