Petrobras, Banco do Brasil, Correios and several other Brazilian state-owned companies are booming: point for President Jair Bolsonaro. In the past, they caused damage: the Lula government’s fault. This rhetoric is as distorted as it is misguided – and yet it has been propagated as a pre-election banner in a Fla-Flu environment between “patriots” and “leftists”. Comparing the BRL 135 billion profit of the 187 companies of the Union in 2021, under the Bolsonaro government, with the BRL 32 billion loss of state-owned companies in 2015, under PT management, is a malicious way of obtaining dividends from the money that didn’t invest and trying to reap what he didn’t sow.
Although it has not yet released the consolidated balance sheet for 2021, Petrobras’ record profit of R$75 billion from January to September last year was 44.2% higher than the profit of R$52 billion in the same period in 2019. Excellent! On the other side of the world, however, PetroChina closed the year with a growth of 395% compared to the previous year. Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco ended the year with a profit of $328.8 billion, up 45.8% from 2020.
With the current price of a barrel of oil at US$95 (up 375% in two years), oil producers around the world are riding this tide. Just look at the price of gasoline or diesel at gas stations, and the dollar exchange rate above R$5, to understand the origin of the current exuberance of the sector’s numbers. In February 2020, oil was trading at $20 a barrel.
The most passionate can interpret that Petrobras benefits from the combination of a high dollar, expensive oil and Bolsonaro in government, but they only get it right in the first two cases. If we look at the Post Office, the reading is not much different. The unprecedented profit estimated at R$2.5 billion last year, the company’s best result in more than a decade, is not the result of the alleged honesty of Bolsonaro and his palatial disciples. The state-owned company, which, in addition to letters, delivers orders across the country, has multiplied its business at a speed never seen before during the pandemic. With trade closed, workers at home office and social isolation almost widespread, the way to go about life was to buy and sell on the internet. Mercado Livre’s revenue of US$ 6.1 billion was 114.3% higher than in 2020. DHL, UPS, Fedex… All more than doubled in size.
The same goes for Banco do Brasil. In 2021, net income reached R$ 21 billion, a growth of 51.4%. With the economy in crisis, the bank turned on the credit tap, especially for agribusiness (+15%) and industry (+9%). More loans, more crisis, more customers mean more return on capital. As a comparison, Itaú’s profit rose 45% in 2021, with R$26.9 billion. Bradesco, on the other hand, with a rise of 34.7%, profited R$ 26.2 billion. Bradesco and Itaú are obviously not under the management of the federal government.
The reality of facts and history shows that the current strength of state-owned companies’ balance sheets has no direct relationship with Bolsonaro’s administration. Not much less with the supposed shock of honesty of the current management. Just as the losses of the past cannot be associated only with corruption. Both Lula and Bolsonaro, each in their own way, are bad for state-owned companies. Both through interference and incompetence.
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