Brazil’s Bolsonaro says Petrobras privatization possible next year

BRASILIA (Reuters) – President Jair Bolsonaro stated on Friday he has licensed Minister of Mines and Power Adolfo Sachsida to think about the privatization of oil firm Petrobras subsequent 12 months, if the president is re-elected in October.

“Sachsida has this concept. I gave him the inexperienced gentle to debate privatization of Petrobras subsequent 12 months,” Bolsonaro stated in an interview on Jovem Pan, a tv and radio station.

“I imagine it may work out properly,” he added, with out giving particulars of how the state’s controlling stake within the firm, formally referred to as Petroleo Brasileiro SA, can be offered.

Bolsonaro started earlier this 12 months to publicly defend privatizing Petrobras after a surge in gas costs stoked by struggle in Ukraine turned a scorching subject in an election 12 months.

The gas value will increase led the federal government to exchange the corporate’s chief government thrice.

Bolsonaro’s major opponent within the October election is former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has said categorically that Petrobras wouldn’t be privatized if he wins.

In June, the Bolsonaro authorities stated it will embody Petrobras in Brazil’s Funding Partnerships Program (PPI) to start out finding out its potential privatization.

The PPI’s particular secretary, Bruno Leal, stated on the time that there was nonetheless no date for sending a Petrobras invoice to Congress and no outlined schedule for any privatization course of.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito; Modifying by Cynthia Osterman)