The shopping basket of Spanish families will continue until next June with 0% VAT on basic foods and of 5% for pasta and oil, announced the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, after the meeting of the Council of Ministers. The measure is adopted despite the fact that the gradual fall in energy prices has allowed production costs in the agricultural sector to be more moderate.
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Although when this was first approved VAT reduction on food one was marked underlying CPI rate of 5.5% to withdraw this measure and the data from last November (the last available) places this rate one point below, at 4.5%, the Executive has decided to maintain aid at a time when food prices increased last month 9%. Extending this tax reduction to certain foods in the first half of 2024 could have an approximate cost of close to 900 million euros, given the budgetary impact that the measure had until September 2023, which totaled 1,294 million.
The Council of Ministers has not foreseen, however, that the meat products, fish and preserves benefit from these VAT reductions, despite the repeated requests that agricultural and livestock producers and consumer organizations have made in this regard, to which some opposition parties have joined.