Budget Speech

Petrol price relief announced for South Africa

Staff Writer

 ·21 Oct 2026

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has announced another round of fuel price relief, through cutting fuel levies from 4 November.

The minister announced that the fuel levy will be temporarily reduced by R3 per litre for diesel and R1.50 per litre for petrol from 4 November 2026 up until 1 December 2026.

Thereafter, the relief will continue at a lower amount until 5 January 2027.

The diesel levy will be reduced by R1.50 per litre, and the petrol levy by R1 per litre.

“These measures will provide R10 billion in support, at a fiscal cost of R10 billion in foregone revenue,” Godongwana said.

To fund the relief, the R10 billion that was transferred to the Central Energy Fund will be returned to the National Revenue Fund and put into the Contingency Reserve.

“This intervention will help ease cost-of-living pressures without compromising the sustainability of the budget,” the finance minister said.

The relief follows months of significant price hikes in petrol and diesel, with another large increase lined up for November.

Central Energy Fund data through 20 October indicates average under-recoveries of approximately R1.52/litre for petrol 95 and R1.25/litre for diesel.

Petrol and diesel prices hit record highs in October, after a R3.33 hike took petrol to over R30 per litre for the first time.

The coming relief to prices follows a similar move by the Treasury earlier this year, where it cut R3 per litre from the general fuel levy in April.

Record high prices still on the cards

While the relief from Treasury will be welcomed by consumers and various groups that have been calling for it, fuel prices remain extremely elevated.

Notably, at current recovery levels, the November relief is not enough to fully eliminate the under-recovery in petrol, with 2 cents per litre still in the red.

Put another way, if the current recovery levels persist—or get worse—petrol prices are still headed for another record high.

The picture for diesel is much better, with the R3 per litre relief seen swinging what was to be a price hike into a price cut.

Another point worth noting is that petrol prices are still well over R10 per litre higher than before the US-Iran War broke out in February/March.

Diesel prices are more than R13 per litre higher over the same period, with the coming relief factored in.

Post-Iran War price adjustments