Measures do not lower the price of something that follows international prices, says former ANP director

The average price of a liter of gasoline in Brazil reached R$ 7.21 this week, but the ANP (National Petroleum Agency) came to register values ​​close to R$ 9 in the country. Despite negotiations to try to lower fuel prices, the Brazilian population still feels the recent highs in their pockets — and the trend is that the pressure will continue.

“There is no measure that can lower the value of something that follows the international price”, said David Zylbersztajn, former director general of the ANP, in an interview with CNN this Saturday (26).

Fuel prices have been raising concerns around the world, due to the escalation in oil prices, which react to the conflict in Eastern Europe. In Brazil, to try to contain this appreciation, a series of measures have been considered.

One of them was approved this Thursday (24) by the Secretaries of Finance: freezing the value of ICMS on fuels and creating a fixed rate. Until then, the tax — the entities’ main source of revenue — had its rate value updated every 15 days, according to the change in fuel prices sold to consumers at gas stations.

According to Zylbersztajn, even though the measure can punctually stop the values, it can also harm the consumer at a time when prices fall.

“In 2020, for example, most of the time the value of gasoline was falling, which was also seen in 2021. Now, it has gone up for several reasons – resumption of the pandemic, tension in Ukraine, but we can have stabilization there. If the ICMS is fixed, the consumer can pay more than would be necessary”, he says.

See full interview in the video.

*Posted by Ligia Tuon