The message comes after the price of fuel continues to tick up.
José Mauro Coelho is the third to leave the post of CEO of Petrobras since February due to a protracted stalemate between the company and the government regarding the price of fuel.
A department head will temporarily take over the business until the successor appointed by the government, Caio Paes de Andrade, currently working at the country’s finance ministry, takes over, Petrobras writes in a press release.
Coelho was appointed for a one-year term in April after Bolsonaro fired his representative Joaquim Silva, who in turn only managed to hold the role of CEO for just over a year.
The president then said that the price of fuel, which is linked to the international market, was “too expensive” and a “crime” against the Brazilians.
Bolsonaro, which is running for re-election in October, is considered by large parts of the electorate to be responsible for the double-digit inflation that has hit the country in the wake of rampant fuel prices both locally and globally.
The price of fuel in Brazil has risen by 33 per cent in one year, while inflation is close to 11.7 per cent, well above the Riksbank’s target of 3.5 per cent.
On Friday, Petrobra announced new fuel price increases, which made Bolsonaro angry again with accusations that the company risks “sinking Brazil into chaos”.