The Council of Ministers is set to approve this Tuesday, just before the current measures expire, a new anti-crisis shield that will be anchored on fuels and gas.
According to elDiario.es, the Government will extend the tax discounts on gasoline and diesel until the end of December, and it will also launch a mechanism to cap increases in the regulated gas tariff.
A phased tax relief that could be increased
The Royal Decree-Law, currently in draft form, establishes a staged extension of the tax relief on gasoline and diesel: 20 cents per liter off in October, 13 cents in November and 6 cents in December. Nevertheless, according to the draft seen by elDiario.es, there will be a safeguard clause that will allow raising these amounts if prices keep surging.
Something very likely to occur: talks between the US and Iran are stalled, which increases uncertainty in the already volatile crude market and begins to push Brent back toward the $100 barrier (in the futures market it trades above $98 today). The ongoing bombardments of energy infrastructure in Russia do not help either, nor does the bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz, of course.
The Government will also extend support to the agro-food sector – including compensation for the higher costs of agricultural diesel – presumably until December 31.
In addition, the Last Resort Tariff (TUR) for natural gas will be managed, covering more than 3 million consumers. On the other hand, a mechanism is established to temporarily restore the 10% VAT on electricity and certain fuels,
Meanwhile, this relentless rise in fuel prices has pushed inflation up to nearly 5% in September, its highest level since 2023. Fresh foods have also surged sharply, reaching 5.8%. These figures are bad news for consumers, who have now seen the CPI rise for three consecutive months.
