Judge rules petrol stations must keep profits high

net1

A judge from Manaus in the north of Brazil has ruled that all petrol stations in the city should have at least 22% profit when selling petrol.

The ruling has infuriated people in the city because since many pumps have raised their prices and stopped most promotions.

In one area the fuel went up by 32p per litre. Petrol station could receive a fine of up to $4,000 for disobeying the law.

Car owner Arno Franc told Jornal Hoje: "Who does this judge thinks he is? The president?"

Judge Lafayete Junior said his ruling aims to help petrol stations that were facing bankruptcy because of the cheap petrol prices in the city.

But people do not agree and some of them are already hiring a lawyer to try and reverse the ruling.

One of them said: "It is unacceptable, I never heard of anything like that in my life. I thought laws were about helping the society not helping petrol station owners!"