In Spain they are horrified by the annual inflation of 10% and compare the situation with Argentina

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In Spain they are horrified by the annual inflation of 10% and compare the situation with Argentina

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Prices in a greengrocer in Madrid. Photo: EFE / Luca Piergiovanni

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Spain has spent just over two weeks of a ruthless European summer: to the unbearable thermal temperatures that exceed 40 degrees in some areas, it is added inflation of 10.2 per cent (annual) in June, increase that the Spaniards did not feel in their pockets for 37 years.

“It’s a very bad figure,” admitted the president of the ruling coalition Pedro Sánchez, regarding the double-digit inflation which has not been repeated in Spain since 1985.

It is the same front revealed by the new Argentine Minister of Economy, Silvina Batakis, who will have to take steps to reverse the upward curve in inflation which, until May, had accumulated 29.3 per cent.

According to projections from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Spain is already among thethe 20 countries with the most price increases this year.

View of the prices in a butcher

View of the prices in a butcher’s shop in Madrid, to the “horror” of the Spaniards. Photo: EFE

Although still far from Argentina, second in the standings behind Turkey. For our country, the OECD expects prices to rise, on average, by 60.1 percent this year.

Spanish inflation in June exceeds that recorded in May, which was 8.7 per cent, and that of April, 8.3 per cent.

Across the euro area, it also rose: in June it was 8.6 percent year-on-year.

“We planned it because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin – responsible for the invasion of Ukraine – is also using energy and cutting gas to some countries and we knew this would increase inflation”Said President Sánchez.

“It could be worse”

“The data is bad but it could be worse if we didn’t articulated measures -plot-. Thanks to these measures, inflation is not 15 percent “.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez with Alberto Fernández, at the Moncloa Palace, in May.  Photo: EFE

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez with Alberto Fernández, at the Moncloa Palace, in May. Photo: EFE

The Spanish president acknowledged: “I know this is not insufficient consolation, but to give you an idea, by the end of the year we will allocate to this inflationary crisis 15 billion euros“, She said.

“Putin is using gas and oil as another weapon in his war against Europe,” Sánchez insisted.

“We must be aware that this war (Russia-Ukraine) impoverishes Europe, impoverishes us all,” reiterated the vice-president and minister of Economy and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño.

And he added: “We have now mobilized more than 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in aid.”

The war in Ukraine has raised the price of oil and cereals.

The Spanish National Statistical Institute (INE) also attributes the increase in inflation to the increase in fuel, food and soft drinks, to which must be added the rates of hotels, bars and restaurants, higher than those of last year.

Loading the tank, a nightmare

The government had established a reduction of 20 cents per liter for fuels, but that helps liquefied: petrol has already increased by 17 cents and diesel by 22. Refueling the car this summer costs 60 percent more compared to 2021.

“You have to think about it very well,” admits Robert, a man from Madrid who plans to go on holiday by car to Galicia, but now does the math due to increased fuel.

Every time I buy less with the same money – complains Rocío, who is an employee and does his shopping in the market in the Cuatro Caminos district of Madrid. The dozen eggs cost 1.20 euros. Now I pay it at 2 “.

“This is nothing,” says an Argentine

Spanish public television goes out to the streets almost daily to gather the opinion of the people, scandalized by the rise in prices. “This is nothing”, said an Argentine tourist on holiday in Spain in front of the cameras, “I understand that for the Spaniards it is a lot that something that costs 7 euros now costs 7.20”. In Argentina, it goes from 7 to 12, 14 or 15. “

The INE also calculated core inflation, which is the one that does not include fresh food or energy products: its estimate was that in June it had risen to 5.5 percent, the highest value since 1993.

A month ago Spain, together with Portugal, managed to get Brussels to approve what is known as the “Iberian exception”: to be able to set a ceiling on the price of gas which is used to produce electricity with the aim of lowering the price of electricity.

Anyway, inflation does not stop.

The turmoil in the Spanish economy added a few days ago a waiver: that of INE president Juan Manuel Rodríguez Poo.

The public version indicates that he did so “for personal reasons”.

However, the version according to which the farewell of the INE president is due to the government’s criticisms regarding the calculations and forecasts on two crucial data for the stability of the PSOE-Podemos coalition, still today He has little more than a year left: how GDP and the consumer price index (CPI) are calculated.

The leader of the PP, the main opposition party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.  Photo: Gustavo Ortiz

The leader of the PP, the main opposition party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Photo: Gustavo Ortiz

The data did not go unnoticed by the leader of the main opposition party, Alberto Nunez Feijooeager to contribute to the administration of Pedro Sánchez’s government keep detaching yourself.

“The OECD has warned that Spain’s growth will be 2.2%, while the government’s forecast was 4%,” Núñez Feijóo said in a speech given to the National Federation of Self-Employed Associations. Inflation will remain at 8 percent while GDP has decreased by 10.8 percent. Autumn surpassed only by Argentina. “

Not only from the opposition they promote the idea that inflation could drive Pedro Sánchez’s government forward.

A few days ago Pablo Iglesias, his former vice president and former leader of Podemos, the minority party in the ruling coalition, shot his former partner: “Write something. There are few governments that can resist inflation like this. “

Madrid. Corresponding

ap

Source: Clarin

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