The Economy Ministry had stated on Monday that federal taxes on fuels would be resumed this week after a broad waiver initiated by former President Jair Bolsonaro last year, who lowered prices ahead of a re-election bid.
Lula, who defeated Bolsonaro in an October vote, extended the tax waiver on diesel and biodiesel until December of this year, and on gasoline and ethanol until February.
His political allies had been pressuring for a new extension of the benefit on diesel and gasoline to avoid short-term inflation and damage to the president's popularity. Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on Tuesday said the government decided to resume taxes on gasoline and ethanol at 0.47 real and 0.02 real per liter, respectively, until the end of June.
He said he expected the measure to help improve the outlook for a rate cut by the central bank, which has been criticized by Lula for keeping the country's benchmark interest rate at a six-year high of 13.75%. If federal taxes were fully reinstated, the impact per liter would be 0.69 real for gasoline and 0.24 real for ethanol.
To ensure that the government continued to count on the additional 29 billion reais ($5.5 billion) that would be guaranteed with the full recovery of taxes, Haddad said exported crude oil would be charged a 9.2% tax for four months, aiming for 6.6 billion reais in revenue. This measure will affect Petrobras , which announced earlier in the day that it would reduce gasoline and diesel prices at its refineries from Wednesday, partially offsetting the resumption of federal taxes on fuels for consumers. Preferred shares in Petrobras ended 3.5% down on Tuesday, while oil firms PetroRio and 3R Petroleum plunged 9% and 7%, respectively.
($1 = 5.2367 reais)
(Reporting by Bernardo Caram; Writing by Carolina Pulice and
Marcela Ayres; Editing by Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates)
