Bolsonaro criticizes, Petrobras chief defends state-owned profits

a Petrobras Opening a conference call with investors today, the company’s president, Joaquim Silva e Luna, said the company will continue capital discipline and adopt policies aimed at achieving the best returns for shareholders, and thus for the Brazilian community.

“It is good to emphasize that Petrobras does not pursue profit for profit, our goal is to return value to our shareholders and our community, through taxes, dividends, job creation and investments,” commented Silva e Luna.

Comments were made after the president Jair Bolsonaro (No party) yesterday confirming that Petrobras It must have a social role and cannot be a company that offers “such a high profit”.

Without mentioning Bolsonaro, who appointed him president of the company, Luna said that “the healthiest and most resource-generating company is able to return wealth to society in the form of taxes, to municipalities, states and the union.”

He pointed out that the oil company’s board of directors Yesterday approved another advance payment to shareholders, with a total of 63.4 billion Brazilian reais, referring to the results of 2021, and highlighted that the Federation, as the largest shareholder, will retain a large part of the resources.

He declared that “in 2021, the strong results of Brazilian society will allow, through the federation, to receive 23.3 billion R$ in dividends, resources that help maintain public policies for all Brazilians and that benefit particularly the most vulnerable.”

“We will continue to work with capital discipline, investing in assets with high rates of return, with a focus on generating value for society. The numerical outcome of this work is translated into profit,” Luna said.

Yesterday’s balance sheet indicated that Petrobras collected 134.1 billion Brazilian reais in taxes for the public treasury from January to September, an increase of 43.4% compared to the same period last year.