Motorists in South Africa are set to be hit in the pocket at midnight as fuel prices go up. The price of petrol will increase by as much as 29 cents per litre and the price of diesel will increase by as much as 42 cents per litre on Wednesday morning. Illuminating paraffin prices are going up 36 cents a litre.
The main driver of the higher fuel prices was the increase in the Brent crude oil price which rose from $66 to $73 a barrel in the period under review, which in turn saw international refined petroleum products. A slight appreciation of the rand currency versus the US dollar helped to keep the fuel increases in check.
George Glynos from ETM Analytics says the weakened rand has exacerbated the problem.
“The unfortunate reality is that oil price is high, the rand has also weakened which is only exacerbating the problem. On top of that we have weak environment that’s being hampered by COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions. It’s a tough time for motorists, the only mitigating factor is we are in lockdown people are less mobile so that does help as far as household finance are concerned but its’ still difficult to spin this into a positive in any material way,” says Glynos.
