RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday the country’s state-controlled companies should fulfill a social function and that a different understanding by a chief executive is unacceptable.
The president’s comments come after a disagreement on fuel prices at state-controlled oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA led Bolsonaro to announce the ousting of Petrobras Chief Executive Roberto Castello Branco.
“A state-owned company, whichever it is, has to have its social vision,” Bolsonaro said at an event at power company Itaipu, defending fuel price predictability. “We cannot admit a chief executive at a state-owned company who does not have this vision.”
Bolsonaro made his speech next to Joaquim Silva e Luna, currently CEO of Itaipu and appointed chief for Petrobras. The president thanked him for accepting the job.
(Reporting by Sabrina Valle and Marta Nogueira; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)
