​Brazil’s new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, issued a decree canceling the privatization of several large state-owned companies, including oil giant Petrobras, a process started by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, TeleTrader reports.

Lula da SilvaPhoto: Andre Penner / Associated Press / Profimedia Images

The order, published in the Official Gazette on Monday, said plans to privatize these companies would be withdrawn to “ensure a thorough analysis of the impact of privatization on public services and markets”.

At the same time, Lula ordered his ministers to cancel any action that would include these state-owned companies in investment partnership programs or national privatization plans.

The measures came after Lula was officially sworn in as Brazil’s president on Sunday after narrowly winning presidential elections held at the end of October last year.

Lula said state-owned banks and oil majors such as Petrobras would play a “key role” in Brazil’s new economic cycle. Petrobras’ share price fell 6.5% on Monday after the decision was announced. In the 12 months of last year, it fell by 14%, reports Interfax.

Changes in Petrobras, the largest company in Brazil

Lula appointed his close political ally, Senator Jean-Paul Prates, as chief executive of Petrobras late last month, promising to reform the way prices are set by the oil company, Brazil’s biggest economic agent, the Financial Times reported.

Prates is a former left-wing presidential adviser on energy policy and a member of the Workers’ Party, of which Lula is a member.

Prates announced that the practice of Petrobras, an estimated $66 billion company, to adjust fuel prices according to events in international markets, which Lula condemned during his election campaign, would be changed.

“It will be changed because the country’s policy will be changed,” he said, announcing that prices would be set by a “government consortium” that would include relevant ministries.

Market-based pricing has been criticized, including by right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who fired three Petrobras executives in just two years over pay rises.