Petrol price set to fall again
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Johannesburg - There could be more good news for motorists as another petrol price decrease is expected – despite the rand’s recent volatile performance.
“The rand is all over the place and the oil price is all over the place,” said chief economist at Efficient Group, Dawie Roodt.
He predicted that there would be a 10c to 15c decrease per litre in the petrol price, effective from November 5.
Roodt said a month ago it looked as though South Africans were in for an increase of about 20c/l.
“But in the last two or three weeks, the (oil) price came down very sharply and the rand appreciated a little bit,” he said, explaining why this had now swung to expectations of a price decrease.
However, he said in the last three days, the rand had come under “renewed pressure”, thus making it difficult to forecast what the actual decrease would be.
According to a statement from the Automobile Association, heavy declines in international petroleum prices have outweighed a recent spike in the exchange rate.
“The average exchange rate has spiked to around R11.20 to the US dollar and remains stubbornly high, but the good news is that the landed fuel price has dropped by around 10 percent since the last fuel price adjustment.”
“Based on the mid-month data, the petrol price is heading for a month-end decrease of 10 to 15 cents per litre, while the picture for diesel is rosier: an estimated 32 cents per litre decline. Data for illuminating paraffin is also showing a substantial drop of around 27 cents per litre.”
Between August 6 and October 1, the petrol price dropped 72c/l in two separate decreases and inland motorists currently pay R13.43 and R13.61 per litre for 93 and 95 octane fuel respectively.
In a statement released on September 30, the South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) said South Africa’s petrol price was internationally competitive as the global average was R14.30/l, excluding the figures for oil-producing nations.
“As a general rule, countries that produce and export oil have significantly lower prices,” Avhapfani Tshifularo, Sapia’s executive director, said in the statement.
Sapia said Norway had the highest petrol price in the world with an equivalent of R27.34/l while South Africa’s neighbours, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, pay above the average at R16.65 and R16.49 respectively.
Venezuela has the lowest petrol price and motorists only have to fork over 16c/l, which means it would cost just R7.20 to fill the tank in a 1.4l VW Polo Vivo. - The Star