Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) said on Tuesday (16) that the interference of President Jair Bolsonaro (no party) in Petrobras came with a "heavy economic cost" and that the problems created with the government-owned company is still "an open question.”
"What we told the president is that this has a heavy economic cost. If the objective was to lower the price of fuel, what happened was that the markets started to raise the exchange rate, Petrobras lost value," said the minister in an interview to CNN Brasil.
“And the president himself said that he wants to do this in an organized manner. The president was shown that he has contracts there, and the president of Petrobras will not have his contract renewed. Why? Do you want to change this leadership? This is an open question for the future. We will see how the new president of Petrobras will face this problem ahead,” he said.
The minister said it was natural for the politician to be concerned about the electoral base formed by truck drivers. According to him, the governments of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) and Dilma Rousseff (PT) interfered in Petrobras' direction.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon