Portuguese highway tolls are projected to increase by 2.3% on January 1, 2026, driven by inflation data and a prior government agreement with concessionaires.
This anticipated rise includes a 2.2% adjustment based on Portugal’s rapid estimate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October, excluding housing. An additional 0.1% will be appended as stipulated by a 2022 accord.
That agreement aimed to mitigate a potential nearly 10% surge in toll prices for 2023. As part of the resolution, highway operators received compensation allowing them to add 0.1% to annual toll updates for four subsequent years.
The year-on-year inflation rate for October, excluding housing, serves as the primary reference for annual toll adjustments. This figure is still subject to final confirmation by the National Statistics Institute (INE) in November.
Concessionaires are legally mandated to submit their proposed toll revisions to the government by November 15 each year. The state then has 30 days to review and approve these proposals before they take effect on January 1.
Historically, the reference inflation indicator was negative in both 2020 and 2021, resulting in no changes to toll prices. In 2022, the CPI led to an 1.83% increase.
Facing potential increases of around 10% for 2023, the government intervened. It limited the actual rise to 4.9% after rejecting initial proposals of 9.5% and 10.5% from concessionaires.
Under the terms of the 2023 agreement, the state absorbed 2.8% of the difference above the 4.9% limit, with concessionaires covering the remainder. The additional 0.1% annual increase for four years was part of their compensation package.
This compensatory mechanism also influenced toll increases in 2024, which saw prices rise by over 2% (combining a 1.94% October CPI ex-housing with the additional 0.1%). In 2025, increases also surpassed 2.2%.
It is important to note that some highways in Portugal’s Interior and Algarve regions ceased to be tolled on January 1, 2025. For the Lusoponte concession, September’s inflation data is used for annual updates instead of October’s.