ARCHIVED - Petrol prices in Spain 21 per cent higher than a year ago

Holidaymakers heading home from the Spanish Costas face a long and costly drive!

The last weekend in August is generally one of the busiest in the year on the roads of Spain as holiday-makers make their way home from the coasts and rural areas, and in terms of the cost of the homeward journey the latest developments in the forecourt price of fuel offers motorists a combination of good and bad news.

On the positive side, the average price at the pumps of both petrol and diesel fuel has recorded its second successive decrease over the last week after peaking in mid-August. The falls are minimal – in the case of petrol the average price of a litre has dropped by 0.14 per cent to 1.415 euros, while diesel is down by 0.47 per cent to 1.26 euros – but at least the numbers are going in the right direction!

On the other hand, though, these average prices are as much as 21.3 per cent higher than at the same point last year in the case of petrol, and 18.7 per cent for a litre of diesel fuel. Filling a standard 55-litre petrol tank now requires an outlay of 77.82 euros (13.70 euros more than a year ago), while the petrol the figure stands at 69.30 euros (as opposed to around 58 euros at the end of August 2020).

However, some comfort can be gleaned by drivers in Spain from the fact that fuel is cheaper in this country than in the EU as a whole: the European average stands at 1.538 euros for a litre of petrol and 1.361 euros for diesel!

Image: Archive