Already cash-strapped consumers will have to dig deeper this week as the prices of petrol, diesel, illuminating paraffin and gas are expected to increase from Wednesday.
The new prices, effective from Wednesday, mean that a litre of 95 Unleaded petrol will now cost R22.30 at the coast and R22.95 inland, according to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. Both grades of petrol are rising by R1.27 per litre, while diesel is going up by between 30 and 31 cents.
The department said despite the decrease in the cost of Brent Crude oil, international and national factors necessitated the latest increase in fuel prices.
The department explained that petrol prices were increasing at a higher rate than diesel because of lower inventory levels globally and closures of refineries in some countries for seasonal maintenance.
“The impact of the European Union sanctions on diesel imports from Russia was already priced in. The LP Gas prices increased due to higher freight rate and propane and butane prices during the same period. These factors led to higher contributions to the Basic Fuel Price (BFP) of petrol by 73.89c/l and lower contributions to the BFP of diesel and illuminating paraffin by 26.48c/l and 40.90c/l, respectively,” the department said.
The rand’s weak output against the US dollar also contributed to the increases.
The department said the rand had depreciated, on average, against the US dollar from R17.05 to R17.74 per dollar during the period under review.
“This led to higher contributions to the basic fuel prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 48.26c/l, 52.53c/l and 53.56c/l respectively,” the department said.
IOL