The Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government announced, this Wednesday (13), a federal subsidy for fuel producers and importers, given the rise in oil prices on the international market.
Under the measure, the government will grant a subsidy of R$0.89 per liter of gasoline. The effective impact on the consumer, however, should be smaller and be around R$0.62 per liter due to the mandatory mixture of 32% anhydrous ethanol in the composition of the fuel sold at gas stations.
The initiative comes after increased tensions in the global oil market caused by the war between the United States and Iran, which affected important maritime routes used to transport the commodity.
Petrobras had already signaled to the market that an adjustment in refineries was close. On Tuesday (12), the president of the state-owned company, Magda Chambriard, stated that the increase in gasoline would occur “right away”, during a conference with analysts on the company’s financial results.
The government, however, decided to accelerate an emergency solution before the conclusion of negotiations in Congress.
Initially, the economic team defended a complementary bill to allow extraordinary oil revenues to be used as compensation for the reduction in taxes on fuels.
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The text was sent to the Chamber in April and had the urgency regime approved, which allows voting directly in plenary. So far, however, there has been no concrete sign of progress on the merits of the proposal.
With no prospect of quick approval, Planalto opted for an immediate measure to reduce the impact of the adjustment on the consumer.
