Gasoline rises 3.3% in the country in the first week after fuel increases

The average price per liter of Gasoline rose R$ 0.17, an increase of 3.3%, compared to the previous seven days. The increase comes after the resumption of federal tax collection, which came into effect on the first day of this month. According to a report published weekly by the National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANP), gasoline was sold in the country, on average, at R$ 5.25 last week. This is the highest price since the last week of August 2022. The market expects the value of a liter of fuel to increase by R$ 0.26 after the return of taxes. The most expensive gasoline in the country was found in Barueri and Santo André, in the State of São Paulo, at BRL 6.99 per liter. Another fuel that recorded an increase (2.4%) in the average value was ethanol, which reached R$ 3.88 per liter. The increase is R$ 0.09. On the other hand, the average price of diesel fell 0.5% in the same period, that is, reached R$ 6.02 per liter. On the last 27th, the Ministry of Finance announced the return of fuel taxation, but with a greater burden on gasoline compared to ethanol.

Economists and specialists interviewed by the report of the Young Pan News have been making calculations and revising upwards the inflation projections for 2023 due to the increase in fuel costs. The announcement of the return of taxes that were zero for gasoline and ethanol was made following the end of a provisional measure that, since last year, kept the PIS, Confins and Cide rate for fuels at zero. The chief economist of National Confederation of Commerce (CNC), Fábio Bentes, until then bet on an inflation for this year of around 6.2%, well above the ceiling of the target. The center of the target is at 3.25%, with a tolerance margin of 1.5 pp up or down. Now, with the re-encumbrance, pressure on consumer prices is inevitable, according to Bentes: “Fuels, when subject to this re-encumbrance, as they are the items with the greatest weight in the composition of the Extended Consumer Price Index (IPCA), will make economic activity to slow down, given that interest rates are already at a high level and this should also cause expectations regarding this year’s inflation to continue to be readjusted upwards”. Exemption from fuel taxes was a strategy used by the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to contain the rise in prices, along with the ceiling of the ICMS for fuels, telecommunications, energy and transport. These measures contributed to controlling Brazilian inflation in 2022. Even so, it was outside the target ceiling.