RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After meeting with the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, said he was in favor of privatizing state-owned companies such as Eletrobras and Correios (the Postal Service), but felt that an eventual sale of Petrobras still faces resistance.
“I can’t answer generically about privatizations. I am in favor of privatizing Eletrobras. I think the cost of managing Eletrobras is very detrimental to the Brazilian state. This eventually leads to losses for society. This is an important matter,” he said.
Maia further stated that it is increasingly less useful to maintain a structure like the Correios. “It is unclear why the Correios still maintain the structure they have,” he added.
Regarding Petrobras, Maia admitted that the environment is still too restrictive for potential privatization. “But the government sold BR Distribuidora and had no protests or problems. So it’s a growing trend,” he said.
To Maia, the main point is that the government shows – in each privatization process – why public management has been worse for the citizen than it would be if it were managed by the private sector.