By Reuters
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday that he had “initial sympathy” toward the idea of privatizing state-run oil company Petrobras, a comment that gave the company’s shares a minor jolt.
Bolsonaro made the comment to national broadcaster GloboNews at an event in Sao Paulo. On Wednesday, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said in an interview that Bolsonaro was no closer to agreeing to the privatization of Petrobras.
In recent days, government officials and Petrobras executives have sought to reassure investors that the company is completely free of government interference after Petrobras canceled a diesel price hike on Friday at the behest of the government.
Petrobras’ Brazil-listed preferred shares extended their gains by about 0.7 percent following Bolsonaro’s comments and were up 3.5 percent in afternoon trade. Brazil’s benchmark Bovespa index was up 1.3 percent.