The main federal state-owned companies — Petrobras, Banco do Brasil, BNDES, Caixa Econômica Federal, and Correios — reported a combined net profit of R$182 billion ($36 billion) in 2023, a 24% drop compared to a year earlier.
The performance in the first year of Lula's (PT) government is explained by the retraction of Petrobras' results, whose profit fell by 33% compared to 2022 (to R$124.6 billion - $ 25 billion). There was also a decline in BNDES, with a 5% lower result (to R$11.9 billion - $ 2.3 billion).
Banco do Brasil and Caixa registered better results in 2023. In the former case, there was an expansion of 11.3% (to R$35.5 billion - $ 7 billion). In the latter, 15.5% (to R$10.6 billion -$ 2.1 billion).
Petrobras management says there was a depreciation of oil in the international market. The Brent crude barrel fell by 18%.
At BNDES, management states that the comparison with 2022 was affected by the sale of shares that year.
BNDES divested from shares of different companies, such as Petrobras and Vale, during Jair Bolsonaro's (PL) administration — a policy contrary to that of the Lula government.