Canarias investigates whether the "immediate" rise in fuel after the start of the conflict with Iran is justified

 The Vice President of the Government of the Canary Islands and Minister of Economy, Manuel Domínguez, has commissioned a report to analyze the "immediate" price increase of fuels in the islands after the outbreak of the Iran war.

The Ministry of Economy, Industry, Commerce and Self-Employed, through the General Directorate of Commerce and Consumption, has opened a file to study the causes of the increase registered in the Canary Islands coinciding with the start of the conflict, as reported this Thursday in a statement.

Domínguez has pointed out that it is “surprising” that prices increased “just on the same day of the start of the conflict”, a situation he described as “anomalous” because, as he indicated, it had never happened before.

The vice president has explained that the objective of the report is to determine if there are objective reasons that justify the increase or if any irregular conduct could have occurred in the market.

Should any irregular practice or abuse of power be detected, the Government will transfer the file to the Canarian Competition Council to analyze what happened and adopt the corresponding decisions.

Domínguez has indicated that, in the current context of constant price increases, the regional Executive cannot let a situation of this type pass and has warned that, if it is proven that market behavior is anomalous, there could be sanctions.

He added that the Government maintains meetings with the employers' associations of the sector to analyze what measures can be adopted in view of the increase in fuel prices in the islands.

Likewise, he has pointed out that, if the central Executive allows the Canary Islands to incur debt or relax the spending rule, even temporarily, the regional Government would have room for maneuver to adopt measures that allow to alleviate the economic impact on citizens.