Spain Scraps VAT on Food

Spain is undertaking a new series of measures, including scrapping the value-added tax, VAT, on staple foods, such as bread and milk, to help ease the economic crisis caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the measures in an end-of-year speech.

The government said it would also cut cooking oil and pasta VAT from 10 percent to 5 percent.

Sánchez said “the three packages of aid measures passed since the start of the war in February would cost about 45 billion euros ($48bn), including 10 billion ($10.6bn) for the latest measures.”

He said the aim was “to protect the middle and working classes given the rise in the cost of living, energy and food.”

Aljazeera /Shakirat Sadiq