Bolsonaro sends project that releases the use of pre-salt resources for health and education

President Jair Bolsonaro sent the National Congress a bill that authorizes the Union to sell its share of the pre-salt oil from sharing contracts managed by the state-owned PPSA and also unlinks the revenues that will be obtained from the sale of these assets from the Social Fund.

Created in 2010, the Social Fund is a sovereign wealth fund, intended to receive the portion of the pre-salt resources that fall to the federal government, such as royalties and special participations.

Congress changed the allocation of resources to link part of the resources to health and education.

By justifying the untying, the government says that there will be no “damage” to the areas.

“This measure is important because, if this linkage were maintained, there would be inefficiency in fiscal management. This is because, given the volume of resources expected, they would not have a counterpart in the expenditure forecast in the Budget. However, there will be no harm to the execution of public policies covered by the Social Fund, since the resources will normally be allocated in the Public Budget according to the priorities defined by the National Congress”, says the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic in a statement distributed to the press. .

Estadão/Broadcast had informed that the project had been sent to Congress, formalized in a message in the Federal Official Gazette (DOU).

According to the publication, the text “authorizes the Union to cede, in full, the right to its share of surplus oil from production sharing contracts and production individualization agreements in areas not contracted in the pre-salt or pre-salt area. in strategic areas”, which are marketed by Pré-Sal Petróleo SA (PPSA), a state-owned company recently included in the government’s portfolio of studies for privatization.

In defending the bill, the government says that the model adopted so far makes the Union share with private partners the risks associated with oil exploration.

“In addition, in order to market oil owned by the Union, PPSA must carry out activities similar to those of private traders, which requires complex actions so that the state-owned company is able to maximize the Union’s revenues”, says the Secretary General of the Federal Government. Presidency of the Republic.

“With the sale of the Union rights provided for in the sharing contracts, PPSA would no longer be part of the current contracts, causing business decisions to be taken by completely private entities. The measure would also make it possible to reduce the State’s presence in the economy, through the onerous transfer of assets from the Union to the private sector, and to reduce federal participation in dirty energy, with resources that could contribute to financing an environmental and socially sustainable agenda. responsible”, he adds.