The main state-owned companies under government influence (PT) increased sponsorship contracts by R$539.6 million in 2025 compared to 2024.
In total, sponsorships equivalent to R$1.6 billion were signed last year, in numbers already corrected by the IPCA, an increase of 52.5% compared to the previous year.
accounts for most of this increase, with R$277.4 million more in sponsorships from one year to the next. The biggest proportional increase in the period was from , which in 2025 multiplied sponsorships from 2024 by 15.
Last year, the Sheet showed that the . The 2025 increases add more money to these initiatives. Sponsorships from state-owned companies had been reduced during the (PL) government.
In corrected figures, Caixa signed R$652.1 million in sponsorships in 2025. It signed R$527.7 million in contracts of this type. In the case of R$289.2 million and BNDES, R$99.3 million. The four are the state-owned companies with the highest revenue according to the most recent report from the Ministry of Management.
Planalto stated that sponsorships are the responsibility of the companies. Caixa, BNDES, Petrobras and Banco do Brasil defended the expansion they made in the contracts.
The survey of Sheet It was based on state-owned companies’ transparency pages. The correction of values took into account the IPCA of January 2024 and 2025 in relation to May 2026.
The numbers considered are not amounts spent, but new contracts signed each year. Some of the agreements are for immediate disbursement, others are long-term and provide for payments over more than a year.
Lula has already increased the participation of state companies in sports sponsorships.
“We are also going to do a survey of Brazilian public companies to see how many of them have sponsorship for Olympic athletes. Because it is very easy to sponsor a team that is a champion. I want to see them sponsor a boy or girl from the outskirts of this country”, he declared in 2024.
The biggest contracts signed in 2025 are related to sport. Caixa signed commitments of R$160 million with the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, R$90 million with the Brazilian Athletics Confederation and R$80 million with the Brazilian Gymnastics Confederation. BNDES, R$60 million with the Brazilian Judo Confederation.
The R$160 million grant from Caixa for Paralympic sport took place at a ceremony in São Paulo and was attended by Lula. The resources are for the period from 2025 to 2028, equivalent to the Paralympic Games cycle.
There are also smaller sponsorships aimed at specific events. Caixa, for example, has expanded its support for São João festivities in recent years. The movement came after Carlos Vieira took charge of the bank. It was the region where these parties are most popular.
Sponsorships are usually negotiated directly between interested parties and state-owned companies. Even in these cases, in agreements worth at least R$200,000, the contract is submitted to an advisory committee and needs to be released by Secom (Communication Secretariat), responsible for the communication area.
companies defend contracts
The press office of the Presidency of the Republic stated that decisions on sponsorship are the responsibility of the companies themselves. He also said that Secom’s competence over sponsorships “has an institutional and normative character and should not be confused with interference in the politics of state-owned companies”.
Caixa Econômica Federal stated that the variation from 2024 to 2025 was mainly due to multi-year agreements, “whose values are fully recorded when contracted, but with disbursements spread over the years”. Therefore, annual spending is lower than the volume of hires.
The bank also stated that sponsorships are selected based on its strategic planning, within budgetary limits.
The BNDES stated that it resumed sponsored projects in 2023 after a stoppage between 2020 and 2022. The movement, said the bank, was a way of resuming leadership in the country’s economic and social development.
The agency declared that the values for 2025 returned to the average of years prior to the period of strike. Furthermore, he stated that last year’s numbers do not mean immediate disbursement – he gave as an example the sponsorship of R$60 million to the Brazilian Judo Confederation, which must be paid in four years.
Petrobras said that it has strategically expanded its sponsorships and that they are a tool to boost economic and social development, in addition to strengthening the company’s institutional image.
“After years in which sponsorship activity was limited, due to a strategy of selling assets and reducing the size of the company, Petrobras, from 2023, carried out the resizing of its project portfolio, reaching the current volume of investments, compatible with the size and social responsibility of a company like Petrobras”, he said in a note.
Banco do Brasil declared that the expansion of sponsorship contracts from 2024 to 2025 “reflects the continuity of the bank’s strategy of strengthening its brand positioning, through initiatives that generate connections with different audiences”.
The bank also stated that sponsorship decisions follow technical and marketing criteria with a focus on generating value for its brand. “The evolution of investments in sponsorship is aligned with its strategic planning and Banco do Brasil’s marketing and communication guidelines”, said the company in a note.
