Somehow, we’re already in June. The middle of June to be specific, which means we’re just over two weeks away from the Department of Energy’s official decision that’ll determine the fate of the country’s petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin prices in July.
Fortunately, we don’t need the Department of Energy to get some sort of idea of where those prices are headed in the here and now. That’s a job for the Central Energy Fund (CEF), with its latest predictions pointing towards a (slight) drop in petrol prices. Diesel, on the other hand…
Good news for petrol drivers
Before we get into that, we’ve got to get a few things straight. The CEF’s figures below (captured on 16 June 2023) are by no means fact. They are predictions, though they’re about as accurate as can be. That’s because it makes its predictions based on the current price of oil, globally, and the Rand/US Dollar exchange used to purchase it – similar to that of the Department of Energy’s thought process before deciding the month’s official fuel prices.
And, for the most part, both have stayed relatively flat. The Rand is continuing to struggle, sure, but it’s no worse off than it was at the beginning of June. Oil, too, has hardly budged. That leaves us with one of the most stable price predictions we’ve seen for a while.
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Here are the fuel price predictions (so far) for July 2023:
- Petrol 95: decrease of 6 cents per litre (R0.06)
- Petrol 93: decrease of 15 cents per litre (R0.15)
- Diesel 0.05%: increase of 12 cents per litre (R0.12)
- Diesel 0.005%: increase of 6 cents per litre (R0.06)
- Illuminating Paraffin: decrease of 5 cents per litre (R0.05)
What the prices will look like come the Department’s official decision, we couldn’t tell you. Though as long as nothing too hectic befalls the country over the coming weeks (Stage 6, anyone?), this is likely what we’ll be seeing at the petrol pumps on Wednesday, 5 July 2023.