Pretoria- The Department of Energy has attributed this week’s petrol price increase to higher international prices for oil and the weakening of the rand against the US dollar.
Other reasons , the department said was the steep rise in fuel levies and the Road Accident Fund levy of 80.5c per litre, that was determined by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene during his Budget Speech in February.
“There is no need to panic at this stage. Crude oil price fluctuations are not expected to be excessive if major geopolitical conflicts are excluded,” the department said.
On Friday the department announced that the price of petrol, diesel, illuminating paraffin and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will increase with effect from the 1 April.
The price of 95 octone petrol in will increase by R1.62 per litre in Gauteng and R1.60 on the coast.
The price per litre of 93 octane petrol would increase by R1.56 and on the coast by R1.54.
Gauteng will cost approximately R12.89 per litre compared to R14.39 in April 2014.
The price of petrol has decreased by R4.02 since July last year till February 2015 and taking the current increase into account, a litre of petrol is still R1.50 cheaper than it was in April last year.
The price per litre of diesel would increase by between R1.20, on the coast, and R1.24, in Gauteng.
The price of illuminating paraffin would increase by 26c per litre while the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) would increase by 85c per kilogram countrywide.
The new prices will come into effect on Wednesday. –SAnews.gov.za
