The Minister of Mines and Energy, Adolfo Sachsida, was against the creation of a stabilization fund to hold the price of fuels with dividends from Petrobras. In his view, the topic requires debate but could be more harmful than beneficial.
“Although the idea has merits, it seems to me that, at the moment, the risks are greater than the benefits”, he said during a public hearing in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday (21).
In his view, with a stabilizing fund, the price mechanism no longer reflects the real scarcity of the product in the market, as well as it could affect demand and supply.
“A stabilization fund like this has some legal problems today. First, it would need to be outside the spending ceiling and that would require a PEC. A PEC for this would raise doubts.[…] You may have the impression of having one more PEC to take part of the expense from the spending ceiling. This can increase the country’s risk, it can generate exchange rate devaluation and increase the price of fuel and I would need to increase the fund again”, he added.
The minister also recalled that in an election year, legislation may prevent measures in this area. Sachsida, however, said he would support the measure if it passed the National Congress.
Source: CNN Brasil
