A new “coil” of the pre-election dispute around the fall of the IKMS on fuel and lubricants has begun. Pen of the President of the Republic, Bolsonaro has redacted a decree requiring gas stations to display posters with old prices. so that consumers are able to make a comparison.
The opposition says that this is an election campaign. Glasey Hoffmann, president of PT, complained on social media: “Bolsonaro is making gas stations report falling fuel prices after the ICMS change – this is unbelievable.” The reaction will not stop there.
As expected, Bolsonaro’s government is doing its pre-election political marketing by lowering fuel prices at gas stations. After a law passed by Congress that changed the way ICMS is levied on fuel to reduce the weight of the tax on the final price at a gas station, prices began to fall – and the population feels it.
Mines and Energy Minister Adolfo Saxida stopped this week at a gas station on the Ipiranga network.in Brasilia to advertise the cost of gasoline charged locally at 5.99 reais per liter, as shown in the report Stadao. “We manage to keep fuel prices down,” he boasted in a recorded video.
The president’s son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, is also campaigning to criticize opponents with price tags at gas stations.
A few weeks ago, on June 21, according to reports from the National Oil Agency, the cost of a liter of gasoline reached 8.99 reais.
Most states have already cut ICMS, and governors who have cut taxes are now looking to capitalize on falling prices as well. Sao Paulo Governor Rodrigo Garcia, who is seeking re-election, was the first to draw the line..
The agreement is being structured such that the ICMS reduction will be temporary, until the end of the year, and then modulated for a gradual reduction over time.
The Ipiranga gas station, which served as a reference point for Minister Paulo Guedes in the 2018 elections, is now serving as propaganda to reduce fuel consumption. Long before the decree, Bolsonaro’s supporters were already talking to gas station owners not to cover their license plates.
The pen of the president and the power of the Centrão leadership in the Congress continue to take over the agenda of economic measures in the elections. How the country’s economy reaches 2023 doesn’t seem to matter to the political world.
* SPECIAL REPORTER FOR THE BRAZIL ECONOMY
