The price of petrol is going up by four cents a litre at midnight tonight. The increase follows the 91 cent a litre hike that came into effect earlier this month. The Energy Department also says that motorists will be forking out between 14 and 15 cents less for a litre of diesel.
Illuminating paraffin will cost between 15 and 20 cents less. The price of LP gas, however, is going up by 94 cents.
Robert Maake, responsible for fuel prices in the department, says, “During September every year, we also adjust the salary increases for the people who are working at the service stations. So, there is a 5,7 cent per litre that is added to the petrol prices for the forecourt annual increases. And also, there is a sleight levy of 8,7 cents a litre that is added on both prices of petrol and diesel on the LP gas side the increase is mainly due to the higher prices propane and butane which are the components of LP gas.”
Earlier this month, Economist Azar Jammine attributed the huge hike to the depreciation of the rand against the US dollar partly due to the violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last month.
“The rand has fallen partly because of the riots and also generally emerging markets have lost some of their lustre in the last month. The rand is not the only one that has depreciated against the dollar and so the combination of these has led to higher rand prices in fuel,” he added.
Fuel prices increase effectively from Wednesday: Dr. Azar Jammine
