It’s already that time of the month. South Africa’s Department of Energy has passed judgement on the country’s already-struggling fuel prices. Anyone that’s kept up with the Central Energy Fund’s predictions throughout March will be please to note that they were right. For those that haven’t kept up, we’ll summarize; diesel prices are down — way down — and petrol prices… they’re virtually unchanged.
That, in itself, is a win. Things were looking rough for the country’s fuel prices at the beginning of March. But, a strengthening Rand (and depreciating stages of load shedding) have greatly contributed to the decrease in prices across the board – barring a minuscule increase in 93 Octane.
Passing through April unscathed
From 00:01 in the morning of Wednesday, 5 April, petroleum-based fuels will see the following increases:
- Petrol 95: decrease of 1 cent per litre (R0.01)
- Petrol 93: increase of 2 cents per litre (R0.02)
- Diesel 0.05%: decrease of 74 cents per litre (R0.74)
- Diesel 0.005%: decrease of 75 cents per litre (R0.75)
- Illuminating Paraffin: decrease of 125 cents per litre (R1.25)
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Had this been any other year, April would’ve brought us far more pain and suffering. But, due to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s recent announcements, South Africa will not see an increase in either the General fuel levy or the Road Accident Fund levy this year. We wish we could say the same for 2024’s other prices.
Not to sound too greedy, but as a petrol driver, let’s just hope that May’s official fuel prices bring us something to cheer about. Don’t hold your breath, however.