Spain extends scheme to ease soaring costs

MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday announced the extension of a package of financial measures to ease the effect of soaring prices driven up by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other factors. 

"The government will extend the war response plan for another three months," he said while meeting lawmakers from his Socialist Party. 

The measures, which came into force on April 1 and will remain in place until June 30, include 6 billion euros ($6.4 billion) in direct aid for companies and households hit by the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Among the measures was a discount of 20 cents per litre of fuel, with the government paying 15 cents and fuel providers the rest, and an extension of the reduction in VAT on energy costs. 

Sanchez did not say how much the extension would cost the public purse. 

"With these measures, we have been able to lower by 60 per cent the taxes on light... we have broadened the extent of the social aid package to two million homes and we've protected the most vulnerable," he said, referring to a measure to reduce consumers' electricity bills. 

For months Spain, like many other countries, has been battling soaring inflation as a result of the tension between the post-pandemic economic recovery and the impact of the war in Ukraine.