Pacheco defends use of Petrobras dividends to stabilize fuel prices

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), defended this Wednesday (17) the use of dividends from Petrobras to maintain a fund to stabilize fuel prices.

Pacheco thus follows the movements of other heads of Powers. The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and even president Jair Bolsonaro had already mentioned this alternative as a method to contain the successive increases in prices.

In the morning, Pacheco received at the Official Residence the president of Petrobras, General Joaquim Silva e Luna, and other company directors to deal with successive increases in fuel prices. He said that it was a first meeting, in which the representatives explained the company’s pricing policy and also addressed the issue of monopoly — pointed out as the reason for the high amounts charged.

Pacheco then defended that “substantial” dividends should be used as a way to ease price hikes.

“The fact is that Petrobras is a company that belongs to all Brazilians, it cannot be devalued, messed up, it has to be respected. But at the same time it has to fulfill a little of its social function, with very substantial and substantial dividends that gives to the Union,” stated the president of the Senate, in the evening, after a meeting with the president of the Federal Supreme Court, Luiz Fux.

“These dividends can eventually be reverted to some equalization fund that can guarantee a little more stability in this issue of fuel prices. It is not appropriate for a truck driver to leave the South and take a load to the Northeast and halfway through he has so many changes in fuel prices. This generates a regrettable unpredictability in freight,” he added.

The meeting with the president of Petrobras takes place at a time of great demand on the part of senators for a solution. Members of the CAE (Committee on Economic Affairs) approved an invitation to hear on the topic minister Paulo Guedes (Economics), Bento Albuquerque (Minas and Energy) and Silva e Luna himself.

In addition, on the 30th of this month, the commission is expected to vote on a bill by senator Rogério Carvalho (PT-SE) that initially also provided for the creation of a stabilization fund. The most controversial point of the proposal, however, is the creation of price fluctuation bands, from which there must be intervention.

The Senate also keeps in the drawer the proposal already approved in the Chamber that changes the rules related to the ICMS (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services) on fuels.