Bolsonaro sparks upheaval at Petrobras

摘要

IT was a rollercoaster week at Brazilian oil giant Petrobras with the federal government raising the spectre of interventionism by openly clashing with the state-controlled company's long-established fuel pricing policy and replacing a market-friendly chief executive with a retired Army general. PRESIDENT Jair Bolsonaro caught investors off guard when, on 19 February, he unveiled plans to replace Petrobras chief executive Roberto Castello Branco with Joaquim Silva e Luna, a man with whom he shares military ties.The move signalled a return to past interventionist practices and government-imposed controls on fuel prices that were adopted for many years when the leftist Workers' Party was ruling the country, which ultimately led to massive losses in Petrobras' downstream division.