Toll prices could rise by more than 10% next year, taking into account the most recent inflation data and if the Government does not intervene in order to stop this increase. Freight transport companies say, however, that this increase is "unbearable" and warn of rising costs.

"This increase is greater than the sum of what happened in the last five years and, therefore, is completely unaffordable for these companies and can only result in the increase, again, in the cost of goods and, obviously, the increase in the cost of transport", warned André Matias de Almeida, from the National Association of Public Road Transporters of Goods (ANTRAM), in statements to SIC Notícias.

On 15 November, Ascendi proposed to the Government an increase in tolls of 10.44% in 2023, the year-on-year inflation value of October without housing, but the concessionaire admitted that it is up to the State to determine the final value.

In the same vein, Brisa told ECO that, "according to the stipulations in the concession contract with the State, the price of tolls for the next year is calculated according to the inflation registered in October of this year (removing the housing effect)".

As for the price of tolls on the two Tagus bridges under concession to Lusoponte - 25 de Abril and Vasco da Gama - it may increase by 9.3% from January 2023, as the concessionaire's contract provides that the rate update is indexed to the year-on-year rate of change in the September CPI.

So far, the Government has not yet given instructions to concessionaires to stop the rise in tolls in 2023.