Spain Cuts Fuel Prices And Limits Rent Hikes In Response To Rising Inflation

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday a direct aid package of 16 billion euros to help households and businesses weather the financial storm brought about by sky-high energy prices and inflation.

The long-awaited emergency response plan will aim to deal with soaring prices which have caused not only worry for consumers but also lead to strike action and social unrest among transportation workers and other business sectors.

The plan which is expected to be approved by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday will target a number of key areas including fuel prices, rent rises and financial support for the most vulnerable citizens.

Fuel Prices

The price to fill up in recent weeks has rocketed and has been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine.

On Monday the price per litre for gasoline was between €1.84 and €1.98 per litre, with the cost of diesel between €1.86 and €1.95.

Fuel prices have had a major impact on those who are most reliant on their vehicles, especially taxi drivers and transportation workers who have been striking over the past two weeks in protest of the recorded rises.

As a result of the industrial action, many products have not been able to be delivered leading to empty shelves in supermarkets.

Last week, the government announced a reduction in the cost to fill up the tank, however, this only applied to transportation workers.

Under the new measures as outlined by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (pictured), the reduction will be extended to all road users with the government saying it will be reducing the price of petrol by a minimum of 20 cents per litre.

Of that reduction, 15 cents will be subsidised by the government directly with the other 5 cents coming from the oil companies.

Some companies have already announced bigger reductions than the 5% minimum.

The reductions are expected to remain in force until at least June 30.

Rent and Minimum Vital Income

With households seeing a big rise in living expenses, the Prime Minister announced that there would be a cap of 2% on the amount that a landlord will be able to raise the monthly rent.

The cap will remain in force until the end of June meaning that landlords will not be able to increase a tenant's monthly rent beyond the cap over the next few months until the end of June.

Sánchez also said that the government would be extending aid to the poorest of Spanish households by increasing the minimum vital income by around 15%.

Other measures aimed at helping the most vulnerable include the social electricity reduction which will be extended to a further 600,000 families, reaching a total of almost two million homes.

With the country exiting the Coronavirus pandemic boasting 20 million employed workers and a positive GDP of 5.1%, the Prime Minister said he was keen to secure jobs.

"In the workplace, we are going to take measures to protect employment by avoiding dismissals. In addition, companies will be able to resort to internal flexibility measures, such as ERTEs , which worked so well during the pandemic," he said.

Source

https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4977130/0/directo-conferencia-de-pedro-sanchez-tras-el-anuncio-del-plan-economico-para-afrontar-las-consecuencias-de-la-guerra/
https://cadenaser.com/2022/03/28/pedro-sanchez-anuncia-medidas-para-paliar-las-consecuencias-de-la-guerra-en-ucrania/
https://www.thelocal.es/20220328/spain-unveils-e6-billion-economic-plan-to-ease-ukraine-war-impact/

Image Credit: La Moncloa Flickr