Presenting these measures at a press conference in Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez specified that, added to a first set of measures of six billion euros taken in March, these direct aids would represent until the end of the year a total of 15 billion euros, or “more than one point of the GDP of our country”.
The left-wing government has extended for an additional period of six months, until December 31, the measures adopted at the end of March for three months and whose application was to end on June 30.
These measures include a reduction of 20 centimes per liter in fuel prices.
But the government has also decided “direct aid of 200 euros” for the self-employed and the unemployed, as well as a new reduction in VAT on electricity – the second in less than a year – from 10% to 5%, a measure that Mr. Sánchez had already unveiled on Wednesday before the Congress of Deputies.
The executive also decided on a 15% increase in pensions and disability pensions.
Inflation on the rise across Europe
Inflation rose again in Spain in May to reach 8.7% over one year, or 0.4 points more than in April, according to an initial estimate by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
“As of today, inflation in Europe is extraordinarily high and, consequently, it is also high in Spain,” said Mr. Sánchez, who claimed that there were “17 countries in the ‘European Union’ with higher inflation than Spain.
