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The meeting that decided to increase Petrobras took place last Thursday, June 16th, and will be announced this Friday, June 17th.
Last Thursday, June 16, a meeting of the Board of Directors of Petrobras took place, which provided the green light for the state-owned company to increase the price of diesel and fuel. The readjustment will reach more than 10%, as stated by the G1 portal, that is, it exceeds two digits. The accumulated high is already above 60% since the beginning of the pandemic and truck drivers are among the most affected.
Márcio Weber was responsible for holding the meeting on this last holiday. During the meeting, the federal government advisors tried to encourage the institution to hold the budget. However, the company has, since 2016, permission to change its values depending on the external market. On Thursday, the value of a barrel of oil had fallen by 1,2%, but that didn't dampen its sharp peak of more than 60% in one year.
Gasoline for R$10 and diesel for R$6: a reality in the election year
The control of fuel prices has been an attitude taken by the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, to guarantee a part of his voters for the elections scheduled to take place in 2022, in October. During the last week, the government announced a project to end the collection of ICMS by the states in order to freeze the prices of gasoline and diesel. According to the project, the Federal State would be responsible for transferring a part of the budget to the governed in order to guarantee that the investments made with the ICMS – which would be extinguished – remain active.
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In the city of Brusque, in Santa Catarina, diesel costs almost R$ 6 and gasoline has the possibility, since 2021, to charge more than R$ 10.
Subsidy by the government would be a way to control prices, says Petrobras
According to the board of Petrobras, the creation of a subsidy by the federal government for the state-owned company would be a way of controlling price variations. However, the project was not approved by the Federal State and, as a result, the company's values were outdated by the foreign market.
According to the institution, which should announce its increase during this Friday, June 17, the value of diesel is out of date with the foreign market by 20%. The United States is also facing the same problem, where a gallon of fuel is trading at five dollars, one of the highest values ever seen since the crisis that happened during 2008, with the bursting of the real estate bubble. Biden says he intends to buy oil from Venezuela for the country to pay the foreign debt and, thus, exponentially increase oil stocks to control the energy crisis left by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Bolsonaro claims that Petrobras is the villain due to the current price policy, and has his mandate undermined
Many surveys, such as Datafolha, show that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is increasingly ahead when it comes to voting intentions. One of the reasons why Bolsonaro is losing popularity is the “absurdly” prices charged for fuel to the consumer.. The president stated that the state company is the villain of prices and that the variations are not related to the federal government. Meanwhile, the Senate said in 2021 that the company is going against the law by committing abuse with its policies and should investigate, but no information has emerged so far.
