- \n
- Petrol 93:<\/strong>\u00a0decrease<\/mark>\u00a0<\/mark>of 10 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Petrol 95:\u00a0<\/strong>decrease<\/mark>\u00a0<\/mark>of 7 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Diesel 0.05% (wholesale):<\/strong>\u00a0decrease<\/mark><\/mark>\u00a0of 13 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Diesel 0.005% (wholesale):<\/strong>\u00a0decrease<\/mark>\u00a0<\/mark>of 12 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Illuminating paraffin:<\/strong>\u00a0decrease<\/mark><\/mark>\u00a0of 23 cents per litre<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
According to Bloomberg’s analysis of oil markets, oil surged as much as 13% before paring gains, after Israel carried out waves of strikes against Iran, raising fears of a wider war in a region that accounts for a third of global crude production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brent topped $78 a barrel in the biggest intraday jump since March 2022, in the wake of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, before paring some of the gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks targeted Tehran\u2019s nuclear program and military, and would last until the threat was removed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran vowed to make a severe response, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying several commanders and scientists had been killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hours after the first Israeli strikes, Tehran launched more than 100 drones in reply, Israel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Analysts stressed that markets are now back in an environment of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, leaving the oil market on tenterhooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traders will start pricing in a larger risk premium for any potential supply disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bad news for the rand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Annabel-Bishop-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Investec Chief Economist, Annabel Bishop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n While oil prices were more directly impacted by the attacks, the rand has also suffered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack and threat of further escalations led to a significant sell-off and exit from risky assets and markets, including the rand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rand has been enjoying some strength against the weakening dollar this year, which has helped the country maintain overrecoveries in fuel prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Investec chief economist, Annabel Bishop, South Africa\u2019s key import is oil and petroleum products, priced in US dollars, internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along with rand strength against the US dollar, this has helped push imports lower in the first four months of this year, versus the same period in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rand averaged R20.44\/$ from January to April last year, and R19.92\/$ this year for the same period, lowering import costs of commodities and goods benchmarked against international commodities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The rand\u2019s strength against the US dollar has aided moderate inflation this year, and has improved South Africa\u2019s trade balance, with petrol prices cut by around R1\/litre this year so far, versus a rise of about the same amount for the same period last year,” Bishop said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The economist noted that while another fuel price cut is currently building for July, this depends on the path of the rand against the dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the rand now pushing weaker due to the Israeli attacks on Iran and the impact of the higher oil price, these positive moves could be wiped out entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More positively, the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) noted that currency markets settled following an initial knee-jerk reaction after the news of the attack broke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This could ease the ultimate impact on local recoveries. However, everything will now hinge on how things play out in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Markets will be keeping eyes on how Iran will retaliate, and whether things escalate. The Iranian defence minister previosuly said the country would retaliate without hesitation if it was attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The extent of the retaliation will determine much of the market and global reaction,” the BER said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Escalation of war in the Middle East has shocked global oil markets and shaken the rand, which will have a significantly negative impact on local fuel price recoveries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":811755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[19853,13405,22860,2923],"class_list":["post-828114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-annabel-bishop","tag-bureau-for-economic-research","tag-oil-prices","tag-petrol-prices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828134,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828114\/revisions\/828134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Petrol 95:\u00a0<\/strong>decrease<\/mark>\u00a0<\/mark>of 7 cents per litre<\/li>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Annabel-Bishop.jpg\")
<\/a>