South African motorists will have to dig deeper into their pockets as midnight will see a fuel price hike for April. This month will see increases to both grades of petrol and one grade of diesel.
Petrol 93 is expected to increase by 65 cents per litre while Petrol 95 will increase by 67 cents per litre.
According to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, the petrol price increases can be attributed to the higher Brent Crude Oil price.
April’s fuel prices will see a rise for the third consecutive month this year and Economist Jannie Rassouw believes this is bad news for consumers.
“I expected the price hike for April for the simple reason that the oil prices increased over the past few months and at the same time, the rand has remained weak and with a weak exchange rate and a higher oil price the net effect in South Africa is a higher price for fuel, higher petrol price and a higher diesel price. So, for me this has not come as a surprise, but I understand it’s a severe blow to consumers,” says Rassouw.
“It’s of course negative for efforts to keep inflation under control. The international price of oil is not something South Africa or its government can do anything about, but we can effect the exchange rate of the rand and amongst others if we have sound economic policies in South Africa, if we attract a lot of investments to South Africa, the exchange rate of the rand versus the dollar will improve and there will be room for the fuel price to come down. Consumers can try reduce their spending on fuel and that they can do by driving economically. In other words, where necessary try combine trips and, in that process, travel less and therefore reduce spend,” he adds.
