![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rand-oil-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFuel price recoveries have staged a significant turnaround on relative market stability, albeit with global oil prices on the wrong side of $100 a barrel for most of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prices have been under continued pressure as the United States’s war in Iran hit a stalemate, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the conflict, the effective closure of Hormuz \u2014 which is subject to blockades by Washington and Tehran \u2014 has triggered a global energy shock, with millions of barrels of daily oil supply shut off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, prices fell sharply on Thursday as the US and Iran tentatively agreed to extend a ceasefire by 60 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While this is not the end of the problem in the regions, markets are betting the truce will hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oil prices dropped toward $92 a barrel, down 19% this month, on optimism that flows through the Strait of Hormuz may resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Donald Trump has yet to agree to the terms of the agreement, according to a person familiar with the matter, after Axios reported that shipping through the strait would be \u201cunrestricted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this stage, it remains unclear how sticking points in the negotiations \u2014 including the Islamic Republic\u2019s nuclear program, Iran retaining control over Hormuz, and sanctions relief \u2014 stand to be addressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The waterway reopening and Iran turning over highly enriched uranium were Trump\u2019s \u201cred lines\u201d necessary for any pact, Treasury Secretary Bessent said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Bloomberg analysis, even if a truce extension is agreed, multiple hurdles remain that could impede the resumption of oil flows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among them, mines in the Hormuz waterway must be removed, shut-in fields may take months to restart, and damage to energy infrastructure from drone and missile strikes needs to be repaired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, vessels would take weeks to reach importing nations, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the rand front, the unit was slightly stronger following the move by the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates by 25 basis points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move was largely expected, with the higher rate delivering a bigger rate differential between South Africa and the US, boosting the rand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision makes\u00a0South\u00a0Africa\u00a0one of the few emerging markets to have tightened policy during the Iran war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The central bank said the move was needed to bring inflation back to target, after it accelerated sharply in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Reuters and Bloomberg<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fuel price recoveries in South Africa have swung into a solid over-recovery, contrasting the last three months of being deep in the red.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":821002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[8995,4531,2835,3994,3670],"class_list":["post-861893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-cef","tag-diesel","tag-oil","tag-petrol","tag-rand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861893","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=861893"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861909,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861893\/revisions\/861909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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