Economy Minister: Eletrobras, Correios and More Could Be Privatized by End 2021
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Minister of Economy Paulo Guedes said that by December 2021 four state-owned companies should be privatized: Correios, Porto de Santos, Eletrobras and PPSA, which manages the offshore pre-salt petroleum sharing system.
“By December, these four should be completed. And many others. This is the starting point. We are proposing this to Congress within the next 30 to 60 days,” he said, in a virtual appearance at the Bloomberg Emerging + Frontier Forum 2020.
Guedes said he does not like to make projections, because people say he makes promises but will not deliver. “There is a political war in Brazil, we deliver, but the opposition says we don’t. We had an agreement to privatize these four companies, but a political agreement prevented it. We were naive to announce privatizations, when there was another political agreement in place,” he criticized, mentioning the government’s progress in the Mercosur agreement with the European Union and the approval of the welfare reform, for instance.
According to Guedes, if the sale of these four companies is successful, Brazil may recover two thirds of what was spent to fight the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, around R$800 (US$149) billion in one and a half years. “I don’t believe that we will be successful in selling everything, it is merely to provide you with an estimate of the amount. On the other hand, I believe that we will sell many other companies. This is just the first step”, he said.
Guedes added that the Correios postal service should be the target of large e-commerce companies, particularly given the growth of this economic activity.
Source: Estadão Conteúdo
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