Post by deputy exaggerates by 5 times the profit of state-owned companies in 2021

A Twitter post by federal deputy Marco Feliciano (PL-SP) is misleading when he claims that Brazilian state-owned companies generated a profit of R$1 trillion in 2021, under the management of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). This was the approximate value (R$ 999.8 billion) of the total revenue, not the profit, of state-owned companies controlled by the federal government last year.

Invoicing, as verified by the Comprova Project, represents the total amount of revenue obtained by companies from their activities in the year. To obtain the net profit, the costs of the companies with operations, taxes, among other expenses, are subtracted from the revenues. In 2021, according to a report from the Ministry of Economy, the net profit of federal state-owned companies was R$ 187.7 billion, a value more than five times lower than the revenue.

Misleading, for Comprova, is content taken from the original context and used in another so that its meaning is altered; that uses inaccurate data or that leads to an interpretation different from the author’s intention; content that confuses, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.

Scope of publication

Until July 15, the deputy’s post had 4,799 likes and 1,016 shares on Twitter.

what does the author say

The report contacted Marco Feliciano via WhatsApp to question him about the error in the post. The congressman replied: “My tweet spoke of the PT bandits’ desire to steal again from state-owned companies. And public money thieves don’t steal from profit, they steal from revenue! In fact, as well seen in BNDES, they even steal from the loan!” .

The team then asked if Feliciano had confused profit with revenue when composing the tweet. “I’m saying that the meaning of what I said is not changed by a millimeter if the information you give me is correct”, said the deputy. Finally, Comprova asked if the parliamentarian would like to clarify the post to correct the information, but this time there was no response.

How do we check

Initially, we did a Google search with the keywords “state profit 2021”. The research returned several news from journalistic vehicles, including Sheet and CNN Brasil, citing a report published by the Ministry of Economy on July 1. We then searched for the keywords “state balance ministry economy” and found the 2021 and 2020 newsletters.

The Ministry of Economy was contacted by email to obtain data on profit and revenue from state-owned companies between 2003 and 2010, during Lula’s presidential terms, cited in the tweet by deputy Feliciano. Through the folder, the report also sought information from 2019, the first year of Bolsonaro’s administration.

The data were updated by the inflation of the period with the help of the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) IPCA calculator.

Feliciano was also contacted to provide clarification on the post.

Profit

According to a report published by the Ministry of Economy, the 47 Brazilian state-owned companies under the control of the federal government had, together, a profit or net result of R$ 187.7 billion in 2021. The value, according to the balance sheet, is triple that calculated in 2020 and the highest since 2018. The best results were obtained by Petrobras (R$ 107.3 billion), BNDES (R$ 34.1 billion), Banco do Brasil (R$ 19.7 billion), Caixa (R$ 17 .3 billion) and Eletrobras (R$ 5.7 billion).

In 2020, according to the Ministry of Economy, the profit of federal state-owned companies totaled R$ 67 billion. The companies’ revenues totaled R$ 815.9 billion in the period. In 2019, state-owned companies profited BRL 114 billion, and revenue was BRL 950.6 billion.

Results in Lula’s administration

In the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, the first three years of Lula’s administration, Brazilian state-owned companies recorded net income (profit) of R$ 53.2 billion, R$ 59.3 billion and R$ 83.8 billion, respectively. During the PT government, the best result was seen in 2008: R$ 129.8 billion.

The revenue of public companies was R$ 627.6 billion (2003), R$ 623.1 billion (2004) and R$ 677.5 billion (2005) in Lula’s first three years in the presidency of the Republic. Among the eight years of PT’s government, the largest amount was recorded in 2010, with R$ 885.8 billion.

The nominal values ​​for 2020 and 2021 were researched by the report in each year’s editions of the Aggregate Report of Federal State Enterprises, published by the Ministry of Economy. The nominal data from 2003 to 2010 and 2019 were sent to Comprova by the ministry’s press office.

The nominal value is that calculated at the time of publication of the numbers. For a fair comparison, all data prior to 2021 were updated by the report according to inflation for the period, with the help of IBGE’s IPCA calculator.

Author of the post

Marco Feliciano is in his third term as a federal deputy. He is the pastor and president of the Revival Cathedral Ministries Assembly of God church. Feliciano has been affiliated with parties such as PSC, Podemos and Republicans. He is currently a member of the PL, acronym for President Jair Bolsonaro.

Why do we investigate?

About three months before the election, the deputy’s tweet is misleading about the profit of federal companies, which have their management under the responsibility of the Chief Executive, Jair Bolsonaro, a pre-candidate for reelection. The voter has the right to choose who to vote for, and this decision must be taken taking into account true information about the public administration.

On the topic of elections, Comprova recently verified that it is false that Lula and the president-elect of Colombia want to force people to share a house with other families and that it is a photo montage that shows Bolsonaro riding a motorcycle under a banner “Go to work, lazy!” in Salvador. Comprova also showed the case of a post that distorts reporting and lies when saying that the PT statute provides for confiscation of Brazilians’ assets.