The latest fuel price hike is a big concern for all South Africans, as it affects everyone’s pockets.
Alan Mukoki, chief executive officer of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci), raised his concerns about the announcement by the Department of Energy that South Africa’s petrol price will rise by 74 cents a litre from Wednesday, 6 March 2019, while the wholesale price of diesel will increase by up to 93 cents, because it won’t mean any economic growth.
“We acknowledge that global oil prices and the adverse ZAR/US$ exchange rate are mainly responsible for this price increase. Another fuel price increase is expected from the beginning of April due to tax hikes that come into effect, as announced by the Minister of Finance in his 2019 Budget Speech,” he said.
Allan is concerned that fuel price increases will lead to inflationary pressures on the economy, leading to potential interest rate increases and a more difficult environment for economic growth.
We acknowledge the Government’s efforts to reduce the sharpness of this negative impact by implementing the price increase in stages, with the first 20 cents coming into effect from the beginning of April 2019, and the remaining 9 cents a litre for petrol and 10 cents a litre for diesel coming into effect in June 2019. However, taken over a period, the effect will still be negative,” he said.
Allan urged the government to make every endeavor to trim unnecessary, wasteful and reckless expenditure with the idea of reducing the various levies on the price of fuel. He said that the cost of energy is already overtaxed.
