The discount on tolls on the A22 Algarve, A23 IP and Beira Interior, A24 Interior Norte, A25 Beira Litoral and Beira Alta, A4 Trasmontana and Túnel do Marão, and A13 and A13-1 Pinhal Interior was approved by the Council of Ministers last week, September 28th, and will come into force on January 1st of next year. During the briefing, ECO asked the Executive how the measure would be financed and the Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba, clarified that the Government was “working on this compensation”, confirming that “it will exist”.

“The main objective is to ensure financial neutrality and this is guaranteed, but, in time, the concrete way to finance the measure will be known”, concluded the government official. Even so, the measure to reduce tolls implies increasing costs with Public Private Partnerships (PPP) that will be covered by tax revenues, which were currently paid by users of those roads.

ECO later questioned again, via email, the Ministries of Infrastructure, Finance and Territorial Cohesion, which are the entities responsible for reducing tolls, about how the Government intends to make up for the loss of revenue. Only the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion gave a response, referring to Galamba's statements: “The questions asked were answered in the briefing of the Council of Ministers this afternoon, with the Ministry having nothing to add”.

This year, the IUC has already been updated by 4%. Now, the Government will be preparing a new increase in the State Budget for 2024, focused on old cars, with registration prior to 2007, that is, over 16 years old.