VAT to go up next year, and alcohol and tobacco and fuel and ... you name it

De Guindos, de Santamaría and
Báñez, ministers various

SPAIN Friday used to be a good day. Not any more. It is the day of the Cabinet's weekly meeting, which now seems to bring nothing but bad news. Just some of it from today: unemployment is now up to 5.6 million, 24.55% of the working population; inflation has reached an official 2%, though anyone in the street will tell you it's more than that; VAT to go up next year, probably to 20% or more; all that, plus all kinds of other measures announced a week ago and about which we are trying to get a grip so we can tell you about them (Watch out for Adiós black money and No more cash under the counter coming soon to your favourite website - THIS ONE, DAMMIT!)