The formula that establishes the way in which the toll price increase is calculated for each year is set out in Decree-Law 294/97 and states that the variation to be practised in each year is based on the year-on-year inflation rate without housing on Portuguese mainland in the last month for which data is available before 15 November, the deadline for the concessionaires to communicate their price proposals to the government for the following year.

Considering the year-on-year inflation rate of -0.13% in October, excluding housing in mainland Portugal, which was released on Wednesday by INE, there will be a stabilisation of toll prices next year.

The figure known today is slightly more negative than the rapid estimate of the CPI released by INE in late October, which reported a year-on-year inflation rate on the continent, excluding housing, of -0.10% in October.

The stabilisation of toll prices in 2020 follows four consecutive years of increases: in 2019 motorway tolls increased by 0.98%, after rising by 1.42% in 2018, by 0.84% in 2017 and by 0.62% in 2016.

However, since the legislation currently in force also defines that the updating of toll rates must be done in multiples of five cents, and the price changes being calculated in each of the sub-balances of the highways, at least in 2016 in the vast majority of the sections and the lower classes of vehicles the minimum updating value was not reached, with the prices being maintained, despite the increase in the inflation rate.