Haddad foresees ‘portability’ of Petrobras’ debt with RJ in order to reduce interest on the state’s fiscal recovery | Rio de Janeiro

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, stated this Wednesday (27) that RJ can offset part of what it owes to the Union with what it has to receive from Petrobras.

“Petrobras has a debt with Rio de Janeiro. If they reach an agreement on how much this debt is, this debt between Petrobras and the government of RJ can be transferred to the federal government; get rid of RJ’s debt and, above all, RJ stops paying such high interestthe interest rate drops”, said Haddad, in an interview with Rádio Itatiaia.

The minister added that this portability “is already agreed with governor Cláudio Castro (PL)”. “He wants to pass on Petrobras’ debt to the State of Rio de Janeiro to the Union,” he highlighted.

Haddad gave this example within what the Interest for Education, a program presented this Tuesday (26) that proposes reducing interest on the debt of states that increase enrollment in technical education. Still according to the government, the goal is to achieve 3 million students until 2030.

According to the state government, RJ’s debt is R$ 188 billions. In the first three months of this year, Rio de Janeiro has already paid R$ 1.9 billion. By the end of the year, the payment of R$9.5 billion. Last year, the state paid the Union R$4.6 billion.

According to state authorities, Rio de Janeiro collected R$409.7 billion in federal taxes last year and, of this amount, R$29.1 billion they returned.

Since 2023, the state has held several meetings with the federal government to discuss the issue, highlighting the need to review the debt.