{"id":857304,"date":"2026-04-16T08:07:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T06:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=857304"},"modified":"2026-04-16T08:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T06:09:08","slug":"taxpayers-getting-crushed-and-more-fuel-price-surcharges-hitting-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/857304\/taxpayers-getting-crushed-and-more-fuel-price-surcharges-hitting-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayers getting crushed, and more fuel price surcharges hitting South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand weakened on Wednesday as the safe-haven US dollar fell to six-week lows, with market attention focused on the possibility of renewed talks between the United States and Iran to end the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The risk-sensitive rand traded at 16.3650 against the dollar, down 0.2% from its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US dollar hit nearly six-week lows on Wednesday, having given up almost all the gains made since the onset of the Iran war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signs of another round of talks between Washington and Tehran have lifted market risk appetite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that discussions with Tehran about ending the war could resume this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although talks held in Islamabad last weekend did not yield a breakthrough, markets remain hopeful that diplomacy might still lead to a resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With a possible second round of peace talks happening again in Pakistan \u200blater this \u200bweek, operators are \u2060quietly positive,” said a treasury specialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All of this is keeping \u200bmarkets fairly static, however, with a slightly \u200brisk\u2011on \u2060mood,” said currency strategists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was down 0.23%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Thursday, 16 April, the rand is trading at R16.33 to the dollar, R22.15 to the pound, and R19.27 to the euro. Gold is currently valued at $4,828.14 per ounce, while oil is trading at $94.97 per barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things happening in South Africa today<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Tax relief falls flat:<\/strong> Despite inflationary tax relief in the 2026 Budget, rising costs for medical aid, fuel, and electricity are eroding take-home pay, leaving many South African employees worse off in real terms. In 2026, for the first time in two years, income tax brackets were adjusted, delivering 3.4% inflationary relief. However, this still lags behind the actual inflation rate of 4.4% in 2024 and just outpaces 3.2% in 2025. [Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Surcharge for Transnet Port Terminals<\/strong>: Transnet Port Terminals will implement a new container-handling surcharge starting next month, due to rising fuel prices impacting South Africa’s ports. The initial surcharge will be R52 per container. [ENCA<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Minister of Agriculture claims FMD success:<\/strong> Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen claims early success in vaccinating cattle against foot-and-mouth disease, with no new outbreaks reported among those already vaccinated. [EWN<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Criminal charges laid against City Power officials:<\/strong> A dissatisfied contractor at Johannesburg’s City Power is filing criminal charges against senior managers, alleging that they attempted to extort R2 million from him. [TimesLive<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New crowdfunded solar business:<\/strong> Ipeleng Power Solutions (IPS) has launched in Johannesburg, providing affordable solar energy solutions through stokvel and crowdfunding models. [Mail&Guardian<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in South Africa on Thursday, 16 April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":788637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-857304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857304","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857304"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857341,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857304\/revisions\/857341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}