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Date Published: 15/11/2022

ARCHIVED - No more 20 cents off per litre? Spain takes steps to abolish fuel discount for everyone

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

The Spanish government is considering limiting the 20 cent per litre discount to the most needy

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - No more 20 cents off per litre? Spain takes steps to abolish fuel discount for everyone

Although the Spanish government has agreed to extend many crisis measures, such as the free travel scheme, into next year to mitigate the continuous rise in the cost of living, no firm decision has yet been made on whether or not the 20 cent per litre fuel discount will be continued in 2023.

Throughout the summer, senior officials claimed to be reviewing the system, analysing ways that the petrol and diesel bonus could help more vulnerable families, and this week the Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has given further hints as to how the government is thinking.

“The subsidy of 20 cents per litre was an emergency decision this summer, with very high fuel prices, in which the quick reaction required it to be a generalized and easily applied measure, but it is increasingly important to concentrate the effort on those who need it most, either for professional reasons, or because of the family’s income level,” she said on Monday November 14, suggesting that the powers that be are taking steps to eliminate the fuel discount for ‘regular’ drivers.

Furthermore, Ms Ribera pointed out that the government considers the free travel scheme to be a “more inclusive” measure to tackle rising prices.

“We know that before the summer it was impossible to be precise and discriminate between families,” she said this week, “but at this time we have been learning how to concentrate fiscal and budgetary effort in those areas in which it is most effective and fair.”

Another indication that many drivers may soon be waving goodbye to the discount is a damning report by the Bank of Spain, which shows that, while the scheme has reduced inflation for high-income earners by 0.61%, it’s barely touched poorer families (a reduction of just 0.35% on average). The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) produced similar figures.

For now it’s a waiting game as the government decides “if sectoral measures must be taken, if it must be maintained for the entire population or focused on a sector or group that is most affected,” after December 31.

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