The Spanish president also announced “an aid of 200 euros” for “families with incomes of 27,000 euros” or less, in order to “compensate for the rise in food prices.”
The socialist leader estimated at 10,000 million euros the cost of this new series of aid “to respond to the economic and social consequences” of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, and at 45,000 million the total of the six packages approved since then.
The discount of 20 euro cents per liter of fuel approved for all consumers in previous packages is now limited to “the most affected sectors”, such as carriers, farmers, shipping companies and fishermen, Sánchez listed.
The Sánchez government multiplied aid in recent months to try to contain inflation, which has skyrocketed throughout Europe, especially due to the war in Ukraine.
In response, inflation has eased in Spain since it reached a record of 10.8% in year-on-year terms in July, since it stood at 6.8% in November.
Despite this, food prices resisted going down, and in November they registered an increase of 15.3% year-on-year.
Brazil extends fuel tax elimination
Meanwhile, Brazil’s government has reached an agreement with the incoming administration’s transition team to extend an exemption from federal fuel taxes for 30 days, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Initially, the tax break was scheduled to end on December 31, a day before the president-elect, the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, replaces the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.
With information from AFP and Reuters.
