LatinNews Daily - 26 April 2024

*The Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras has confirmed that it would pay R$21.95bn (US$4.25bn) in extraordinary dividends to its shareholders. This value corresponds to half of the special shareholder payout withheld in March. During a board meeting last month, the government reportedly overruled Petrobras’ CEO Jean Paul Prates, who wanted to appease investors by completing half of the expected payments, while factions on the board aligned with the minister of energy & mining, Alexandre Silveira, voted to block the payment of the extraordinary dividends. The decision to pay half of the dividends was announced at Petrobras’ shareholder general meeting yesterday and represents a victory for Prates. The issue of the shareholder payouts inflamed the rivalry between Silveira and Prates, which fuelled media speculation in March and early April that the CEO might be sacked, although those speculations have since died down. According to reports in the national press, Prates has the backing of some influential government officials, such as Finance Minister Fernando Haddad. Earlier this month, Haddad reportedly held meetings with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during which he convinced the president to keep Prates in his post and to take steps to restore market confidence in the state oil giant.