With a little over a week left to go before the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy adjusts South Africa’s fuel prices on Wednesday, 7 August, we’ve got another round of petrol price predictions from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) that promise yet another decrease across the board. That includes you, buyers of 0.005% diesel.

We’re in the Endgame now

Anyone who visited the CEF’s fuel price predictions last week will be glad to see just how the state-owned energy company has changed its tune in just seven days. Where it prophesied a minor price increase of 0.005% diesel and only minor decreases for all the rest, it’s now angling for a 10c change in the opposite direction.

Better yet, there’s a possibility that we could see even lower prices by the time the Department fiddles with the petrol pumps next week on Wednesday, 7 August. The Department arrives at the official figures by looking at the average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate over the previous month (in this case, July) as well as the average price of refined oil, globally.

The CEF keeps track of the same economic factors, though daily, providing the Department with the necessary data to make an informed decision at the end of every month. This means the Department cannot artificially inflate or deflate the country’s fuel prices on a whim – though it does have the power to alter the slate levy mechanism.