A big petrol price shock is coming next week

·28 Feb 2019

Rising international petroleum prices have resulted in South African motorists facing substantially higher fuel prices in March, the Automobile Association (AA) said in a note on Thursday.

The association was commenting on unaudited month-end fuel price data released by the Central Energy Fund.

The AA said the price of petrol is predicted to increase by around 73 cents a litre, diesel by 92 cents and illuminating paraffin by 74 cents.

“The rand/US dollar exchange rate has worked slightly in South Africa’s favour during February, giving savings of up to nine cents a litre. However, this has been shouldered aside by fuel price rises which have come off their January plateau and advanced considerably,” it said.

These price hikes come as toll fees across the country increase on Friday (1 March) while additional increases to the General Fuel and Road Accident Fund levies will apply in April.

An additional tax to the fuel price – the Carbon Tax – will come into force in June when an additional nine cents will be added to the price of petrol and an additional ten cents will be added to the price of diesel.

“In the medium term, we expect world supply will slightly outstrip demand as the USA continues to make impressive progress with its domestic oil production. However, petroleum prices remain vulnerable to geopolitical shocks and we cannot rule out further price hikes in the first half of 2019,” the AA said.

By the end of the hikes, SA motorists will be paying R5.63 and R5.49 in taxes per litre for petrol and diesel, respectively.

On a vehicle with a 50 litre tank, this means that drivers will be paying between R274.50 (diesel) and R281.50 (petrol) in tax, every time they fill up.