Economy contradicts Bolsonaro on Petrobras privatization

The Economy Ministry told Petrobras that there are no studies or assessments for the privatization of the state-owned company at this time, contradicting statements repeated by President Jair Bolsonaro (no party) in recent weeks.

Bolsonaro’s series of speeches on privatization, amid criticisms of the fuel price policy, is the target of investigations by the CVM (Securities Commission), which assesses compliance with legal requirements for disclosing relevant facts to the market.

The president’s manifestations have caused fluctuations in the company’s share price. On the 25th, for example, after an interview with Bolsonaro, the shares reached a high of 7.7%. At the end of trading, preferred shares closed up 6.84%.

On the same day, CVM opened a process to investigate Petrobras, leading the company to demand that the government take a stand on the matter. Another process was opened on the 27th, shortly after Bolsonaro said he knew in advance about the readjustment in fuel prices.

To Petrobras, the Ministry of Economy says “there is no relevant fact to be communicated to the market by the Union at this time or recommendation to include the privatization of Petrobras in the Investment Partnership Program.”

It also affirms, according to the state-owned company, that “there are no studies or evaluations in progress that deal with the subject within the scope of the Special Secretary of the ME’s Investment Partnership Program [Ministério da Economia]”.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy, the body to which Petrobras is subordinate, says “it is not aware of the existence of any decision, act or relevant fact of the Federal Union that should be communicated to Petrobras for subsequent disclosure to the market”.

On Monday (1st), Bolsonaro said in an interview in Italy that he had asked Economy Minister Paulo Guedes to “start taking steps to take Petrobras out of the state’s grasp.” The ministry’s response to the state-owned company was given on Thursday (4).

Bolsonaro has spent the last few weeks questioning the state company in interviews and social media lives. On October 27, the opening date of the second CVM process, he said that the company is “only a headache” and is “providing services to shareholders and no one else.”

With his popularity affected by rising fuel prices, the president has been seeking to transfer responsibility since the beginning of the year, attacking governors, posts and distributors. Now, the target has become state-owned.

“I nominate the president, go through the council, and everything bad that happens there falls into my lap. What is good, nothing falls into my lap,” he complained this Monday (1) in an interview given in Italy, on which said to have advance knowledge about fuel prices.

CVM also has processes open to investigate statements by the President of the Republic at the beginning of the year, when he decided to dismiss the then president of Petrobras, Roberto Castello Branco, through social networks, without complying with the rites for disclosing relevant facts to the market.

On that occasion, the company lost R$ 102.5 billion in market value in just one day, in response to signs of political interference in the company’s management.