Chamber president on Petrobras: “Enemy of Brazil”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After information that Petrobras should increase the price of fuel in the next few days, political pressure began on the company’s board of directors to try to reverse the readjustment.

The president of Brazil’s Deputies Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said he would convene House leaders to discuss the price policy of the state-owned oil company on Monday, June 20.

“The Federal Republic of Petrobras, an independent country and in a declared state of war with Brazil and the Brazilian people, seems to have announced the bombing of a new fuel [price] increase,” Lira wrote on Twitter.

In his weekly live video, President Jair Bolsonaro said he hopes that “Petrobras does not do this evil thing (of increasing prices) with the Brazilian people” as the government seeks to approve in the House of Representatives and the Senate measures to limit the rate of the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) on fuel, communication, energy, and transportation.

In return, the government would compensate the states with values ranging from R$25 billion (US$4.9 billion) to R$50 billion.

On Twitter, Arthur Lira, an ally of the president, said that Petrobras is “in a declared state of war with Brazil and the Brazilian people. The state-owned company was also accused of working for “billionaire profits” and as the “enemy of Brazil.”

Finally, Lira said he should call “a meeting of leaders to discuss Petrobras’ pricing policy. This policy belongs to Brazil and not Petrobras’s board of directors.

The president of the House called the president of Petrobras, José Mauro Ferreira Coelho, asking that the increase is not applied until the approved measures are felt by the market, according to information from the Blog of journalist Valdo Cruz.

Coelho said there is no way to hold off on the readjustment since there is a diesel shortage risk in the year’s second half.

Petrobras executives alleged that a possible postponement in the increase would lead to more expensive diesel imports, which would bring losses to the company, a possible fuel shortage, and lawsuits in court.