Why do you have to wait until tomorrow to fill up the car's tank? The discount on diesel returns

BarcelonaAfter a summer with rising fuel prices, this Tuesday the subsidy for diesel will increase to 20 cents per liter. From September 1, the reduction in the hydrocarbon tax on diesel will return to its initial level. This is an initiative that is applied automatically, because the Spanish government foresaw its application if prices were to skyrocket by more than 15% compared to a year ago.

This is precisely what happened during July, when diesel cost 15.7% more than in the same month of 2025. On the other hand, for gasoline, the Spanish executive is maintaining the gradual withdrawal of aid, as it had planned, because during July it rose by 7.3% year-on-year. Therefore, in September, gasoline will benefit from a reduction of 5 cents per liter.

In July, the shopping basket in Catalonia became 3.5% more expensive and, according to provisional data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in August it continued to climb and the increase reached 4.3% across the entire State. In a couple of weeks, when the governmental body releases the definitive figures, it will detail the evolution of prices for each autonomous community.

Measures to alleviate the economic effects of the war

The consumer price index (CPI, the indicator that measures families' cost of living) has soared during the summer precisely due to the rise in fuel prices. At the beginning of July, the 10% VAT reduction on fuels was dropped, and since then, the price of diesel has increased by 24% and that of gasoline by 20%, according to the EU Oil Bulletin.EU Oil Bulletin.

The government of Pedro Sánchez assures that its measures are managing to cushion the shock that the Middle East conflict represents for the Spanish economy. The Ministry of Economy estimates that they have contributed to reducing inflation by an average of one point per month in recent months.

Along these lines, the executive has reiterated on more than one occasion that it will continue to monitor the impact of the Middle East conflict on the Spanish economy "minute by minute." Prices had not soared so much since February 2023, when Spain and the euro area began to leave behind the inflation records registered months after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.