Brazil's Bolsonaro fires oil executive for refusing to lower prices
Bolsonaro sacks oil exec for refusing to cut prices
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro fired the CEO of the Petrobras oil giant for refusing to lower the cost of diesel and gas on Monday.
Bolsonaro fired CEO Jose Mauro Coelho after the executive warned that slashing the cost of oil would lead to diesel shortages. Coelho served barely two months at the head of the organization, with Bolsonaro having fired his predecessor in April, Reuters reported Monday.
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Brazil, like much of the world, faces spiking inflation and rising gas prices, and Bolsonaro faces re-election in October.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro arrives to meet CEO, and chief engineer at SpaceX, Elon Musk, at the event Conecta Amazonia in Porto Feliz, Sao Paulo state, Brazil on May 20, 2022. (FILIPE ARAUJO/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Bolsonaro appointed Caio Mario Paes de Andrade to replace Coelho. Andrade currently serves in the country's economy ministry.
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The Brazilian government holds a majority of the voting shares in Petrobras. Bolsonaro also called for a re-election of the company's board, as Andrade must first be elected to the body before he can be voted in as CEO, according to Reuters.
President Biden has mounted his own efforts to curb rising inflation and gas costs in the U.S., alternately blaming Russian President Vladmir Putin for the spikes and claiming them as an opportunity to transfer away from fossil fuels.
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"Here’s the situation. And when it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over," Biden said Monday.