Fuel price cut on cards
|Published
Down: Price of petrol could drop next month. File picture: Antoine de Ras / Independent Media.
Motorists can look forward to more relief at the petrol pumps as fuel prices look set to fall in July.
According to the latest update from the Central Energy Fund, a petrol price decrease in the region of R1 is looking likely for next month.
However, the picture is not crystal clear as on Wednesday, the average over-recovery of R1.07 for 95 Unleaded, had been on a slight downward trajectory as the outlook has deteriorated.
The diesel equation is deteriorating at a more rapid rate and while the current picture points to reductions in the region of 40 cents, that could easily fall below the 20-cent mark if current trends prevail.
Should the R1 petrol-price cut materialise, 95 Unleaded petrol will fall to around R22.46 at the coast and R23.25 in Gauteng, where 93 ULP will adjust to around R22.91.
The Automobile Association says: “These decreases, if materialised, will go a long way to further alleviating the fuel-price burden and its associated impact on other prices felt by millions of South Africans and is certainly welcome.”
The current over-recovery is largely driven by lower international oil prices earlier in the month, with Brent Crude dipping below the $80 (R1 440) mark.
While prices have since risen to around $85, the rand recently hit an 11-month high, dip- ping below the $18 mark at the time of writing on Wednesday on optimism surrounding South Africa’s Government of National Unity.