The Bolsonaro Government is now seeking measures to compensate the states for the suspension of ICMS collection on fuels and will spend BRL 29 billion from the Union with the new PEC, without impacting the profit obtained by Petrobras in the sharing.
Senator Fernando Bezerra (MDB-PE), rapporteur of the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) on Fuels, announced last Wednesday (08/06), revealed that the Bolsonaro Government will spend R$ 29 billion in compensation to the states for the suspension of the collection of ICMS on fuels in the next months. In addition, the value would not affect the share of other Petrobras shareholders and should contribute to a reduction in fuel prices in the domestic market in the coming months.
A value of R$ 29 billion must be passed on to states with a new PEC to compensate for the suspension of ICMS collection on fuels in Brazil
To circumvent and compensate the states in relation to the suspension of the collection of the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) on fuels from July 1st to December 31st, the Bolsonaro Government is now preparing a risky strategy for the remainder of the year. According to Senator Fernando Bezerra, who presented the PEC on Fuels, the Government will spend R$ 29 billion to compensate for economic losses in the states over the next few months.
The adoption of the suspension of ICMS collection on fuels such as gasoline and diesel has as its main objective the reduction in the prices of resources in the national territory. However, it is through this collection that the states pay public servants and apply resources to health and education, for example.
In this way, the Government is now seeking measures to circumvent the current situation after the suspension of this charge and will adopt financial compensation with the new PEC recently presented.
So, in order to get the states to agree to the suspension of the collection without any problems, the Government is now offering compensation for the lost amounts, and will spend R$ 29 billion to guarantee this. However, industry experts and economists believe that this is a desperate measure and that it will not help in the reduction of fuel prices, since it does not deal with the cause of the increases in Brazil: the price policy practiced by Petrobras.
Experts and economists criticize the Bolsonaro Government's decision regarding the Fuel PEC and claim that the strategy aims to benefit only Petrobras
The Bolsonaro Government's new proposal for financial compensation to states for the amount lost with the suspension of ICMS collection aims to ensure that profits for Petrobras shareholders remain intact. This, because the company achieved a profit in fuel collection in the year 2021 of around R$ 100 billion and, as the Government's share of shares is 37%, the Union received R$ 37 billion from the state-owned company.
In this way, the Government will keep the profit of the other shareholders and use the collected by the Union, but specialists and economists in the sector criticize the decision. Thus, economist and professor at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), André Roncaglia, highlighted: “Note the number of adjustments and imitations in the Constitution for you to protect a small group of people, the minority shareholders of Petrobras. Measures are accumulating to try to compensate for the increase in fuel prices because the Government does not want to touch the root of the problem”.
Finally, Senator Zenaide Maia (Pros-RN), in a debate on the Fuel PEC, said that the Government is prioritizing a group of millionaire shareholders. While the Brazilian population suffers from problems such as hunger, unemployment and even high fuel prices that the Government claims it wants to reduce with the decision.
