Everything indicates that President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) should at any time sign an interim measure that could benefit Presidentelect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva or, in fact, not hinder him. In the words of Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, the act is a “gesture of goodwill” for Lula, who takes office on January 1.
Also read: Inauguration: Does Bolsonaro have to hand over the presidential sash to Lula?
The former captain will extend the exemption from PIS and cofins on fuel for another 30 days. In doing so, he prevents gas prices from suddenly rising on the same day that Lula takes office, as the exemption would end on December 31. The information was provided by UOL columnist Carla Araújo.
“Goodwill Gesture” could be bigger
During negotiations, the current economy minister would have offered a 90day extension, but Haddad would have agreed that 30 days would be enough for the new government to come up with a different fuel price formula in the country.
According to UOL, Guedes has also justified helping the future Lula government by saying that if Bolsonaro is reelected, the plan is to keep the fuel tax exemption for the whole of 2023. The Ministry of Economy estimates that the exemption will cost R$ 52 billion to public coffers per year.
Planalto and Lula’s team has yet to comment on the case.
2022 “gone crazy” who has a car
This year was special for Brazilian riders. With the war between Russia and Ukraine in February, barrels of oil worldwide reached their highest level in 14 years. In addition, the country has gone through an economic crisis and has already started January with an average price per liter of R$ 6.59.
According to the ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels), the national average reached R$ 7.39 this year. The situation stabilized towards the end of the year, with petrol costing less than R$ 5 for two consecutive weeks for the first time in a long time.
In an election year, the government rushed to contain prices and avoid an even worse scenario for the consumer. Taxes were reduced, Petrobras implemented price cuts for distributors, and heard about a change in the way ICMS is calculated.
Now the new government faces the challenge of figuring out what to do to maintain or improve this scenario in the coming weeks.