April's petrol price predictions promise sub-R1 increases at the pumps

Despite what headlines may say, South Africa’s petrol price for next month won’t deliver a fresh batch of pain when April arrives. Sure, that appeared to be the consensus from South Africa’s Central Energy Fund (CEF) a couple of days ago, but according to a fresh batch of predictions from the energy company, far saner increases are on the horizon.

Don’t set those hopes up too high just yet. The country won’t exactly be getting off scot-free by the time April rolls around, but the figures down below are a far cry from the R1.14/l increase that’s been bandied about this week. Hey, we’re willing to take anything as long as it’s less than the increases the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DoE) saddled us with on Wednesday.

(Kinda) Good news for diesel drivers

While the DoE is officially in charge of altering the country’s petrol pumps at the beginning of a new month, the CEF — an energy company reporting to the DoE — is responsible for keeping an eye on the fluctuating price throughout the month. The idea is to give us a rough — and we mean rough — idea of the incoming changes to other prepare celebrations, or as more often happens, commiserations.

The CEF arrives at the numbers below by looking at all the same information the DoE does, just on a more regular basis. Judging by the weakening Rand in comparison to the Dollar, and the rising price of refined oil globally, we’re in for a rough month. Multiple economic factors are constantly influencing these figures, meaning there’s still time for South Africa to turn this tanker around.