July is going to feel somewhat more expensive with the rise in IGIC (as I posted HERE) from 5 to 7%, which will be particularly noticeable for phone bills, and now the minister of Industria, Energía y Turismo, José Manuel Soria, has said that electricity bills are going to go up as well. Charges are likely to increase between 4% or 5%.  And of course, there’s IGIC on that too …

The Red Cross donated 2.1 million kilos of food last year in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife alone, 70% more than in 2010. The food, given to the needy, is said to have benefited 27,500 people in hardship. An appalling figure, and one that indicates how severely the financial crisis has hit people in these islands. A major source for the Red Cross is the supermarkets, which frequently donate food for the needy, but one deserves particular mention: Covirán supermarkets has just handed over 2,000 kilos of non-perishable foods to Carlos Piñero, the Red Cross’ provincial president, for distribution to various Red Cross outlets in Tenerife. Sr Piñero said that 82% of the recipients of such donations throughout Spain live beneath the official poverty line, and 51% were in receipt of no financial help: evidently those figures are going to be higher in the Canaries, one of the areas of Spain worst hit by the economic crisis.