Motorists are set for more pain as the Central Energy Fund (CEF) has predicted a rise in fuel prices for February. Picture: iStock
While the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has given South Africans some reprieve by the dropping the repo rate by 25 basis points, the same cannot be said about the petrol price.
Motorists are set for more pain as the Central Energy Fund (CEF) has predicted a rise in fuel prices for February.
Petrol prices are expected to rise by a whopping 90 cents per litre whole diesel could increase by R1.00 per litre.
South African motorists had to ensure a 19 cents petrol price increase in the beginning of the year and now will now have to contend with more price hikes, adding more strain on their pockets and also to the cost of living.
According to data from the CEF, Fluctuations in international oil prices and the sharp depreciation of the rand were the primary drivers over the past few months are the main contributors as financial markets struggle to digest the impact of a second Donald Trump whose policies created a lot of uncertainty-particularly around tariffs.
Fuel prices are usually adjusted on the first Wednesday of the month and are primarily determined by the price of oil and the rand/dollar exchange rate.
The CEF forecast 93 octane petrol to increase of 90 cents per litre while 95 is expected to go up by 84 cents per litre.
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The price of diesel (0.05% sulphur) is expected to increase by 1.08 cents per litre, while diesel with 0.005% sulphur has been forecast to go up by R1.04 cents per litre.
The rand was trading much weaker against the dollar on Thursday relative to the previous month, sticking to around R18.80/$ for most of the month while hitting over R19.20/$ on the 13th of January.
Oil prices edged up on Thursday, threatened U.S. tariffs on Canadian and Mexican crude imports that could take effect this weekend.
Brent crude futures settled 29 cents, or 0.4%, higher at $76.87 a barrel.
On Saturday, the rand was trading at R18.68 to the US dollar, with the price of Brent Crude Oil per barrel fluctuating near the $76.77 mark.
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