Governments pushed to act on inflation

Oscar Banos and thousands of fellow truck drivers celebrated Saturday after a threat to idle their engines pushed the Spanish government to adopt measures improving work conditions and checking skyrocketing fuel costs driven by inflation.

It’s the latest effort by workers, opposition leaders and citizens to pressure governments from Europe to the Americas to intervene as surging consumer prices squeeze households and businesses.

Banos loves hauling freight across Spain as his father did before him but was ready to lose much-needed cash during a three-day work stoppage just before Christmas. After days of negotiations, the truck companies called off the Monday-to-Wednesday action after Spain’s transport ministry agreed to demands that include controls to help cushion the blow of rising diesel costs.

Political pressure has led countries including Poland, Hungary and the U.S. to take steps such as instituting caps on gas prices, pledging money for poor households or releasing oil from strategic reserves. Spain was among places like Turkey seeing more intense efforts such as protests and work stoppages tied to complaints about inflation, which has surged as the global economy rebounded from the pandemic, increasing demand for smaller supplies of energy and snarling supply chains.

While governments are taking action, they have few effective resources to bring meaningful, lasting relief, economists say, offering short-term aid that likely will do little to combat surging prices. That’s up to central banks, some of whom have started raising interest rates to ease inflation.