Company: PBR
Filing Date: 2025-04-03
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001292814-25-001352
Chunk: 105

Company: PETROBRAS - PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA
Filing Date: 2025-04-03
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 17
Chunk 105
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2023 and 2023-2024. Despite prices returning to levels more aligned with historical trends, the global LNG balance remained highly pressured in 2024.

Annual Report and Form 20-F 2024 |
Brazilian Economy
 According to the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the Brazilian economy grew by 3.4% in 2024. The rate was more than double the expected growth at the beginning of the year, which was around 1.5%. Most of the growth came from the utilities and information technology industries. Agriculture declined 3.2%, while industry and services grew 3.3% and 3.7% each. Investments were higher than anticipated, growing by 7.3%. Exports were on the rise, growing 2.9%, but imports also grew (by 14.7%) closing the pre-existent trade surplus. This is an effect of the growth of household consumption (+4.8%).
 Regarding inflation, 2024 was marked by an acceleration in the pace of price increases at the end of the year. The main reasons were the rise in consumption coupled with the growth of imports and the depreciation of the exchange rate. As a result, after ending 2023 with consumer inflation measured by the IPCA at 4.62%, in 2024 the price expansion of prices was 4.83% (compared to an expectation of 3.9% at the start of the year), staying above the policy target of 1.50% - 4.50%. The interest rates have already started to increase, and this is expected to continue through, at least, the first semester of 2025.
 Finally, the trajectory of the Brazilian exchange rate registered strong depreciation, taking the Brazilian currency from an exchange rate of approximately R$/US$4.91 in January 2024 to R$/US$6.09 in December 2024 (monthly averages). The average exchange rate in 2024 was R$/US$5.39, representing a depreciation of 7.9% compared to the 2023 average of R$/US$5.00.
 
Brazilian Oil and Gas Market
 Despite the recovery, the cumulative effect of the rise in commodity prices, the disruption of supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global energy crisis exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine are still having repercussions on fuel markets.
 In 2024, despite the reinstatement of federal and state tax at the beginning of