Central Bank and Petrobras in the machinery of looters' theft.

The voices of rent-seeking and parasitism in the hegemonic media ardently defend two dogmas: [i] that of the stratospheric interest rate of the independent Central Bank [Independent of the government, but a prisoner of the market god.]; and [ii] Petrobras' pricing policy linked to international prices.

These two dogmas turn the Central Bank and Petrobras into veritable cogs in the machine for plundering and looting national income.

The Central Bank's practice of setting absurd interest rates makes Brazil a global paradise for rent-seeking. It is misguided, unnecessary, and exorbitant. And it signifies the recolonization of the country, since most of the usury is transferred to the imperial metropolises.

The only point of maintaining the 13,75% annual interest rate is that it allows rentiers and speculators to capture billions of reais annually from the National Treasury.

In contrast to most of the world's largest economies, which practice negative interest rates, with the return on money below inflation, Brazil's interest rate allows for a real gain of 8% – an irresistible deal for parasites who reap easy and certain gains without working.

In 2020, the last year before the Central Bank's independence, debt interest expenses totaled R$ 312 billion. From 2021 onwards, after the Central Bank independence law, the cost of servicing the debt began an uncontrolled spiral, rising to R$ 448 billion in 2021 and R$ 586 billion in 2022.

And, for 2023, the Banco Inter projects an expenditure of R$ 790 billion.This is equivalent to more than four Bolsa Família amendments, which Folha de São Paulo once called the "spending amendment."

This can only be called one thing: robbery; looting. An institutionalized robbery, legalized and shielded by the law of the Central Bank's independence.

As banker André Esteves/BTG Pactual predicted to a select audience at the bank, even with Lula's victory in the election, the continuation of the theft would be assured. After all, "we will still have two years of Roberto Campos Neto" at the "independent" Central Bank – with all the tools at his disposal to sabotage the government's economic policy with financial terrorism.

At Petrobras, the mechanism called PPI – Import Parity Price, one of the first measures of the 2016 coup, institutionalized the theft of Brazilian oil revenue. In terms of looting and pillaging the country, the imposition of the PPI on Petrobras is equivalent to the independence given to the board of directors of the Central Bank.

The PPI is also an ingenious invention of financial capital that has a recolonizing character for Brazil. It is analogous to the colonial period, in which the riches of the territory of the original indigenous peoples were plundered and trafficked to Europe. AEPET published a very didactic note explaining the effects of the PPI, such as the disinvestment of Petrobras and the dependence on fuel imports, instead of self-sufficient national production. [link here].

In 2022, Petrobras was the world's runner-up in dividend payments to a handful of shareholders – R$ 215 billion. It was only slightly behind the Anglo-Australian mining and oil company BHP, which even derived part of these profits from its operations here in Brazil.

If we take as a parameter who pocketed the R$ 101 billion in profits and dividends from Petrobras in 2021, we arrive at the projection that the R$ 215 billion in profits and dividends of 2022 were paid, for the most part, to national and foreign private shareholders, who grabbed 64% of this figure – 41% for foreigners and 23% for Brazilians.

The Brazilian government, despite being the controlling shareholder of Petrobras and a key strategic investor in the company, received the smallest share, 37%.

This is called theft. It's colonial plunder.

How many people benefit from this theft that prevents the government from confronting the humanitarian catastrophe affecting approximately 150 million Brazilians who cannot afford even the bare minimum to feed themselves?

Very few people share the spoils of this brutal robbery of Brazil. But this handful of plunderers, less than 1% of the population, controls the media, holds considerable political and military power, and has the capacity to destabilize and overthrow popular governments committed to a distributive perspective and social justice.

The Lula government needs the committed support of the Brazilian people to dismantle the indecent machinery of theft perpetrated by plunderers and looters at the Central Bank and Petrobras.