Guedes says that changing Petrobras president is not his problem

Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) stated that the change in command of Petrobras is not his problem and that he wishes the company’s new president good luck.

Guedes participated in a press conference with the French and international press this Tuesday (29), at the Brazilian Embassy in Paris, where, somewhat annoyed, he commented on the nomination of Adriano Pires to be the new president of Petrobras: “It’s not my problem” .

In Paris to accelerate Brazil’s accession process to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the minister, who has repeatedly declared himself liberal, said he dreamed of privatizing the state-owned company and that “the new president of Petrobras is less important than its privatization”.

In the interview, which lasted more than an hour, in English, he repeated that he had already appointed a president for Petrobras at the beginning of Bolsonaro’s term, Roberto Castello Branco.

Castello Branco would claim, after his resignation in 2021, that he would have been removed from office because he had spoken out in favor of the privatization of state-owned companies, which would have angered President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

“When I think of Petrobras, I think that we should privatize Petrobras, but I don’t have votes, I’m just a finance minister. I have nothing to comment on Petrobras,” said Guedes.

When the journalists present insisted on the matter, Guedes said: “What can I say? I wish the president of Petrobras good luck. I’m more concerned about the war, how are we going to mitigate the impacts of prices, reducing taxes is the first step, thinking in strengthening aid for the most fragile, if prices continue to rise, it should be the second step.”

Alternating an avowedly liberal discourse with a social discourse —which pleases the European public—, the minister said that Eletrobras, Correios and the airports of Galeão, Santos Dumont and Congonhas should be privatized by the government by the end of the year.

According to him, the money from privatizations should be used to help the poorest. “Why don’t we distribute, in addition to income, our wealth?”, asked the minister.

He compared the situation of the Brazilian state with the French state, which has billions of dollars in state structures and companies and every now and then we see someone sleeping under the Eiffel Tower.

“Make an income transfer, or rather a wealth transfer (from the state) to help you buy a house. I think it’s better than having a state company that produces a commodity, I prefer to sell and give the money for the poor. I think it would have a much bigger impact on the economy.”

The minister said that, as a good liberal, he wants to remove taxes and that, if he could, he would reduce federal taxes to zero. But that is against the fuel subsidy.

“That would help the rich who have jets, helicopters, boats.” To address this question, Guedes cited the Socratic (dialectical) method: subsidize gasoline or bet on a green agenda?

“I don’t think subsidizing gasoline is the smartest way,” he said.

OECD membership

At the end of the press conference, already in Portuguese, the minister summarized the visit to several OECD directors and delegates.

“Brazil is very well positioned on this OECD access list, all the protocols are in progress. We had excellent meetings here with the directors of the respective areas —legal, global relations, tax — and we are making convergences towards the best practices that are used internationally”.

On January 25 this year, the 38 members of the OECD Council unanimously decided to invite Brazil (along with five other countries: Argentina, Peru, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia) to begin the formal process of joining the organization, which brings together the most advanced economies in the world.

According to Guedes, there is recognition that Brazil has done a good job and that the country is a very strong candidate, in relation to others. “There is a perception that Brazil is well ahead. Just look at the list of instruments. There are 240 or so instruments, we already have 104 or 105 forwards and 70 more in progress”.

Regarding the presidential elections in October, the minister declared: “If we have it here, I think convergence will be very fast. But if it has people who are against privatization, against opening up the economy, in favor of backtracking on all that were made, which by the way never gave any priority to entering the OECD — previous governments did not have this priority — so there will be an important setback”, he concluded.