Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) published this Friday (14) on his Twitter profile that he intends to build refineries and make Brazil self-sufficient in refining in a possible new term.
Earlier, during a campaign event in Recife, alongside the candidate for governor of Pernambuco Marília Arraes (Solidariedade) and the mayor of the capital, João Campos (PSB), Lula had promised to build refineries and “take care of Petrobras and make investments “.
“I want to tell you that we are going to build a refinery and Brazil will go back to being self-sufficient in refining”, said the former president, during a speech in a sound car.
Leader in electoral polls and winner of the first round, the PT has criticized Petrobras’ current pricing policy and the need to import fuel.
He also stated that he will complete the Abreu e Lima refinery, in Ipojuca, on the southern coast of the state, and reinforced that he will not privatize Petrobras, if he returns to the government.
“We are going to finish this refinery (…) it has been 20 years since Brazil had a refinery. They destroyed BR [Distribuidora], sold BR saying there would be more competition and gasoline would be cheaper. Today, there are 392 companies importing gasoline from the United States and selling it to us at dollar prices,” he said.
The PT member went on to say that he would not privatize public banks, such as Caixa and Banco do Brasil, and that he would use the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) to create a line of credit for small entrepreneurs.
Fuel prices have become one of the main weapons in this year’s electoral dispute. In June, the government of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) instituted a ceiling for charging ICMS (state tax) on fuel, transport, energy and telecommunications.
As a result, gasoline prices, the sub-item that weighs the most on inflation, fell. Brazil registered deflation (fall in prices) of 0.29% in September, according to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).
The government has also pressured Petrobras so that the state-owned company does not make new readjustments before the second round, scheduled for the 30th.
As a result, the gap between domestic prices and international values has skyrocketed and reached double digits last Monday (10th).
The average value of gasoline in Brazilian refineries was R$ 0.36 per liter, or 10% less than the import parity.
As for diesel, this difference measured by Abicom (Brazilian Association of Fuel Importers) was R$ 0.75 per liter, or 13%.
The opposition to Bolsonaro also criticizes the change in ICMS, classifying the measure as electoral and saying that fuel prices should rise again next year.
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