The Department of Energy has published the fuel price adjustments that will come into effect on Wednesday 4 March.

Motorists will pay 19 cents per litre less at the pumps when filling up with petrol, while diesel will see prices drop by as much as 54 cents per litre, the department said.

The price drops are attributable to the lower cost of international petroleum products, which were significantly impacted by oil price weakness on the back of a global market downturn due to the coronavirus outbreak.

International product prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin all decreased during the period under review.

The price drop was undercut, somewhat, by a weaker rand, however, which depreciated against the US dollar during the period under review.

The average rand/US dollar exchange rate for the period ended January 2020 to 27 February 2020 was R14.98 compared to R14.33 during the previous period.

This led to a higher contribution to the basic fuel prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 29.13 c/l, 29.73 c/l and 29.00 c/l.

The changes are as follows:

Both Grades of petrol 93 and 95 (ULP & LRP) down 19 cents per litre

Both Grades of diesel 0.05% and 0.005% Sulphur down 54 cents per litre

Illuminating Paraffin (Wholesale) down 68.00 cents per litre

The table below outlines the changes:

Fuel (Inland) February official March Official 95 Petrol R16.03 R15.84 93 Petrol R15.71 R15.52 0.05% Diesel (wholesale) R14.57 R14.03 0.005% Diesel (wholesale) R14.62 R14.08 Illuminating Paraffin R9.24 R8.56

Tax hikes in April

While motorists will get a price drop in March, they will have to contend with fuel tax hikes in April.

As part of his 2020 budget speech, finance minister Tito Mboweni announced that fuel taxes will rise by 25 cents per litre come 1 April.

This includes a 16 cents per litre increase to the general fuel levy, and a 9 cents per litre increase to the Road Accident Fund levy.

This will push up the general fuel levy from R3.61 per litre of petrol to R3.77 (a 4.4% increase), while the RAF levy will jump from R1.98 to R2.07 (a 4.5% increase).

For diesel drivers, the general levy increases from R3.47 to R3.63, and the RAF levy will also increase to R2.07.

In effect, this means that for every litre of petrol and diesel, motorists will pay R5.84 and R5.70 in tax, respectively.

Source: BusinessTech