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The government will announce an increase of R $ 0.20 in the Cide (Contribution for intervention in the economic domain) in gasoline, said federal deputy Arnaldo Jardim (SP), leader of Citizenship and member of the Parliamentary Front of Agriculture.
In a video posted on a social network, Jardim states that the health and economic crisis caused by the new coronavirus pandemic has strongly impacted the sugar energy sector, specifically ethanol.
According to him, the losses led the parliamentary front to negotiate with the government, which then decided to adopt measures to stimulate the sector.
“The government now announces important decisions, R $ 0.20 more in the Cide of gasoline. 15% on any imported gasoline. And there will also be a financing line for our ethanol, for its storage,” he said in the video.
Today, Cide’s current rate for gasoline is R $ 0.10 per liter. Plant owners claim that falling oil prices, which made gasoline cheaper, made ethanol less competitive with that fuel. Given this scenario, they argue that the government adopts a series of compensatory measures, among them the increase of Cide in gasoline.
This Friday (1), at a press conference, the Special Secretary for Finance of the Ministry of Economy, Waldery Rodrigues, confirmed that the government was analyzing measures related to the ethanol sector, but stressed that it had not yet made a decision.
“At an appropriate time, the Bento ministers [Albuquerque, Minas e Energia] and [Paulo] Guedes [Economia], together with other ministers, will announce [as medidas]”he declared.
The measure has the support of the Ministry of Agriculture. The drop in the price of gasoline reflects the global surplus of oil and fuels, as a result of reduced demand and the divergence among exporters on cuts in production, which led to Brent, the international price benchmark, at its lowest value in 18 years in the third week of March.
Steelworks owners argue that the government should take advantage of the current context of low gasoline prices to form a financial buffer that would reduce the transfer of international oil prices to consumers.
In mid-April, Petrobras president Roberto Castello Branco complained about the “lobby” to increase taxes in Brazil, referring to pressure from plant owners for Cide’s increase in gasoline.
“It is not time to extract extraordinary profits at the expense of the consumer. Nor is it time to pressure the government to request taxes to defend itself from competition,” he said, in a virtual seminar promoted by FGV.
