Lisbon, Jul 10 (IANS): Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced that the government had spent 1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion) this year on measures to contain inflation.

According to Costa, the money was used for "fiscal measures to control the rise in prices and support to contain production costs", as well as measures to help "the most vulnerable families and the most energy-dependent economic activities", reports Xinhua news agency,

Speaking at a Socialist Party national meeting, the Prime Minister justified that it was necessary to dedicate this amount because the inflation grew to levels "never experienced in this generation".

The fiscal measures adopted by the government for the energy sector reduced the tax burden on fuel by 18 percentage points, he said.

"If these measures had not been adopted, in a tank of 50 liters of diesel, each Portuguese would be paying 14 euros more than what they are paying and, in a tank of 50 liters of gasoline, each Portuguese would be paying 16 more euros," he said.

He also said that 120 million euros were spent just to hold down the prices of basic food products for more than one million most vulnerable Portuguese families.

"As with the pandemic, we have here a challenge on a global scale that we have to be able to face and manage," said the Prime Minister.