petrol diesel

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked at midnight on Tuesday, 31 January in another blow to suffering South Africans. Photo: Stock Image / Pixabay

Fuel price will soar AGAIN in July – as costs near R30-per-litre

It’s getting worse: The fuel price for July is set to skyrocket, pushing some motorists towards paying almost R30-per-litre.

petrol diesel

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked at midnight on Tuesday, 31 January in another blow to suffering South Africans. Photo: Stock Image / Pixabay

Another knot has been left in our collective stomachs on Thursday, after a new projection for the July fuel price revealed that more crippling increases will be coming our way next month – driving petrol costs towards the R30-per-litre mark.

Fuel price for July: You guessed it, more increases coming

Everything that can go wrong for South Africa, is going wrong: The war in Ukraine, which is causing catastrophic global consequences, has intensified in recent weeks. The price of crude oil remains stubbornly high, and the Rand is performing poorly against other currencies.

This cocktail of misery means that most of our essential commodities are getting more expensive. The fuel price is no exception, and according to the experts at Investec, things are only going to get worse before they get better…

Costs of R30-per-litre ‘drawing closer’

Annabel Bishop is a chief economist for the firm. In her latest report, the Investec executive states that petrol costs are going to rise by about R2-per-litre in July, with diesel also going up in value by more than R1-per-litre. Fuel prices, therefore, will soon be DOUBLE what they were in 2020.

The forecast increase will accelerate South Africa towards territory that never seemed possible. If these predictions hold true, motorists will be close to paying R30-per-litre for petrol – and the state intervention planned for next month won’t do much to help ease the burden.

  • The suspension of the fuel levy drops to 75 cents-per-litre in July, doing little to cushion the blow of these soaring expenses:

“The current expectation is for another R2-per-litre hike in the petrol price in July, to R26.18-per-litre – the highest petrol price SA has ever experienced. Meanwhile the diesel price is set to rise by R1.18-per-litre, taking it to R24.27-per-litre, which is again unprecedented.”

“Petrol prices in SA are around double what they were about two years ago, and, unsurprisingly, inflation has more than doubled as food costs have increased sharply. Higher fuel prices are being driven by the sharply higher prices of oil and petroleum products.”

Annabel Bishop