Fuel prices need long-term solutions, says expert

In an interview with CNN On Wednesday morning (9), Virginia Parente, a professor at the Institute of Energy and Environment at the University of São Paulo (USP), commented on the solutions proposed by the government to the problem of rising fuel prices so far.

There are three main proposals in dispute at the moment: two bills and the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) on Fuels. Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD) stated that the PEC may not be necessary if the projects help to reduce prices, and he sees their approval as a priority.

One of the bills aims to create a fuel price stabilization fund, a compensation account for when values ​​rise.

According to the expert, creating a fund that deals with market volatility is a good idea, but its operation depends on the source of funds to be used. She defended that the resources should not come from Petrobras shareholders, but from the government itself.

“[O governo] it can do this eventually if it wants with its own dividends, but it cannot force the company itself to form a volatility fund. It wouldn’t be fair to a lot of people who take their resources and put them in government assets,” Parente said.

“The fund is fair, the fund helps the economy to organize itself. Someone who has gone on a long trip, such as a truck driver, may know that the oscillation [dos preços] there won’t be such short periods. (…) It is a fund to cut the valleys and peaks of price fluctuations, which helps in the planning of transport in the country.”

The professor argued that the aid – such as the “truck card”, also known as diesel aid – is not an efficient solution to the problem.

“We would have to look not only at short-term “pulls”. The PEC and the other proposals are “something” to address a problem that actually exists, but we have a basic problem, which is taxation in Brazil. The government had the time and space to carry out a reassessment of taxation in the country, an important tax reform”, said Parente.

She stated that she believes the fund is a smarter solution to the short-term increase. According to the expert, energy poverty is an existing problem in Brazil, which deserves a solution that remains consistent with the passage of time.

“We need to address this problem in a more intelligent way, which is not worth this, that, but with a policy that even gives freedom to those who are receiving the aid to spend where it really bothers the most – which can be on gas or on gas. food,” he said.