Spain undertakes liberalisation measures and tariff cuts

The Spanish cabinet has approved a series of liberalisation measures including electricity and natural gas tariff cuts, Economy Minister Rodrigo Rato said.
Rato said the measures were approved to respond to the European Central Bank's interest rate cut to 2.5 % from 3.0 and to combat accelerating inflation.
He said the electricity tariff will be cut by a further 1.5 % for 1999, with the tariff for natural gas to be cut by 2-4 %.
The time frame for the liberalisation of the natural gas sector will be reduced to 10 years from 15.