Spain rushes out crisis package as iran chokehold sends fuel past €1.80 a litre
Spanish cabinets will approve an emergency economic shield on Friday after Tehran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz catapulted pump prices to historic highs: gasoline up 16 % and diesel 29 % since the first missiles flew.
Repsol moves first, doubles app discounts until easter monday
Not waiting for the palace gates to open, Repsol has already reopened its Ukraine-war playbook. From 21 March to 6 April the company will double rebates on Waylet, its loyalty wallet, letting private drivers shave up to 40 cents off every litre at 3 300 stations. Truckers with the Solred professional card pocket an extra 5 cents on top, a lifeline for 250 000 hauliers whose margins evaporated overnight.
The numbers are brutal: filling a 55-litre tank now costs €94 for petrol cars and €101 for diesels, according to the EU Oil Bulletin. With Brent cracking $110 a barrel after Iran closed the maritime artery through which a fifth of global crude flows, Madrid fears a replay of 2022’s inflation spike.
What the cabinet will sign off
The extraordinary Council of Ministers will endorse a “comprehensive response” mixing structural and stop-gap measures, officials leaked. Agriculture and road transport are first in line, but the government has ruled out repeating the blanket 20-cent rebate that Spain financed two years ago. Also off the table: VAT cuts on food or housing relief, tools that were deployed when Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine.
Instead, ministries are designing targeted fiscal tweaks and fresh social aid, though the envelope’s final size remains under lock until Friday. Any decree must still survive parliament, where minority partners will demand concessions before convalidating the package.
Tehran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz is no distant geopolitical footnote; it is already etched into every Spanish receipt. The message from Moncloa is clear: cushion the blow today, or watch the inflation genie climb back out of the bottle tomorrow.