Spain: in addition to the Covid, the rise in prices and the increase in unemployment
A shopping street in Madrid.
January 5, 2021. (Illustration).
AP - Paul White
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
At the start of the year, prices have skyrocketed in Spain.
The VAT on certain foods has been revised upwards as well as fuels, electricity or income tax while the Spaniards have become poorer in recent months with 37,000 new unemployed last December, or 16.4% of the unemployed population.
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With our correspondent in Madrid,
Diane Cambon
The dreaded "rise" of January will take place this year in Spain.
This is what the Spaniards call the price hike that accompanies the new year.
However, this time, the increases are harder to swallow as the Covid-19 pandemic ended six years of job growth.
Certain products such as foods and sugary drinks are experiencing a meteoric peak in VAT from 10% to 21%.
The price of cereals is also revised upwards, raising the price of bread by 10 to 20 cents.
But it is especially the price of gas with an increase of 6% or electricity of 27% that makes the most creaking.
Because it could not have been worse, as a cold wave fell on the peninsula, leaving snowflakes from Andalusia to the Pyrenees.
Heating has become a luxury for many.
Energy poverty affects 10% of the population.
The left-wing Podemos party, an ally of the Socialists in the government, has called for no household to be without electricity.
An unfulfilled wish because nearly 2,000 families have lived in the suburbs of Madrid for 90 days without light.
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