Brazil finmin says govt not considering tax hikes to pay for diesel price cut

BRASILIA: Brazilian Finance Minister Eduardo Guardia said on Tuesday that "at no moment" has the government considered increasing taxes to pay for a cut in diesel prices, reversing what he himself had said the day before.

On Monday, Guardia said the government would need to hike taxes or cut some tax benefits to compensate for a 4 billion reais ($1.08 billion) loss from a diesel tax cut the government agreed to in order to assuage protesting truckers.

Speaking before a Senate commission on Tuesday, Guardia added that the pricing freedom of state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras, remains "completely intact."