Exclusive: Brazilian Bolsonaro would not sell Petrobras in the short term – party leader

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Jair Bolsonaro, leader of the far right in the Brazilian presidential election, does not plan to privatize oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SAIn the short term, if elected, his party's president told Reuters on Wednesday.

Gustavo Bebianno said the sale of Petrobras, Brazil's largest company, could still be considered in the medium term, but only after the company has been fully "revitalized" by changing its management.

He added that this would require the revocation of political appointments made by the Workers Party (PT), the party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) and other political groups, some of which have been accused of having siphoned off Billions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks by excessive prices. contacts with construction companies.

"You can not play with Petrobras because it is a public good and must be treated as such," Bebianno said.

"Society needs to be revitalized, we have to pull out the PT and the BMD and then maybe we can think of privatization further," he said.

Bolsonaro, a far-right congressman favored by the financial markets, did not reach an absolute majority in Sunday's election. He will face leftist Fernando Haddad, former mayor of Sao Paulo, in the second round of voting, on October 28.

Its chief economic adviser, Paulo Guedes, a free market economist educated at the University of Chicago, has argued for the sale of all state-owned companies to help reduce Brazil's large budget deficit.

This would include Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ELET6.SA), known as Eletrobras, Brazil's largest utility company. However, Bolsonaro said this week that he did not want to sell power generation assets, suggesting that he was against a total privatization of the sprawling electricity company.

Bolsonaro, who is backed by a group of retired nationalist army generals, also said that he considered Petrobras a strategic asset that the state should retain.

Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that Guedes was the subject of a federal investigation for alleged fraud, linked to pension funds of large, state-run companies. This could complicate Bolsonaro's choice of Guedes as Finance Minister, as he works on an anti-corruption platform governed by law and order.

Bebianno said Guedes remained firmly in place as a guru in the Bolsonaro economy, despite the fraud investigation.

Brazilian markets, which rallied when Bolsonaro 's bid was strengthened, fell back on the announcement of the new Guedes survey. The Bovespa benchmark. BVSP closed down 2.8% and the real currency weakened by around 1% against the US dollar.