Petrobras will lower fuel prices in Brazil, says Bolsonaro

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, anticipated this Sunday that the state oil company Petrobras will begin to reduce, starting this week, the price of fuels, which this year have soared between 65% and 73%.

“Petrobras begins this week to announce a reduction in the price of fuel”, advanced the far-right president in statements to the portal ‘Poder360 ′.

Bolsonaro He stated, without specifying percentages or deadlines, that they will be “small reductions”, “in principle every week”, starting the next.

The price of hydrocarbons has grown steadily during 2021 in Brazil, driven by the revaluation of oil in the international market and the strong appreciation of the US dollar against the Brazilian real.

This has caused a rise in diesel of 65% and gasoline of 73% so far this year, in the country’s refineries, a readjustment that has been progressively passed down to the final consumer.

The rise in fuels has also been one of the determining factors that has pushed inflation above double digits (10.7%) in the country.

Bolsonaro He has repeatedly complained about the increase in fuel prices, pressured, among other actors, by the trucking sector, which is part of the social base of support for his Government and has threatened to go on strike several times.

The ruler, whose liberal economic policy is being questioned by the financial market, is used to saying that he does not have “power to interfere in Petrobras” and that he will not control the prices of “nothing”, although at the same time he acknowledges that he is looking for formulas to change the calculation method.

Last February, Bolsonaro He surprisingly appointed Army Reserve General Joaquim Silva e Luna as the new president of Petrobras, after weeks of criticizing repeated fuel readjustments.

However, the increases have continued to occur under the management of Silva e Luna, although now it seems that Petrobras, which is controlled by the State, but with shares in Sao Paulo, New York and Madrid, will start the opposite way, as advanced by Bolsonaro.