Brazilian government seeks scapegoat for rising fuel prices

This week, for the primary time in 85 days, Brazil’s oil main Petrobras introduced a hike in diesel costs. The 9-percent enhance is about to trigger a headache for the federal authorities amid a widespread inflationary spiral. As such, with common elections a bit of over a yr away, the central administration is searching for to ensure the blame for rising gas costs is diverted elsewhere.

The technique, subsequently, has been to move the buck for growing gas costs on the State Items and Providers Tax (ICMS), levied and picked up by state governments. ICMS corresponds to 27.6 % of…