Petrol price set to increase at midnight

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Pretoria - Motorists are set to dig deeper into their pockets again as the petrol price is set to rise again at midnight today by 36 cents a litre.

"The price of 93 grade petrol will increase by 36 cents per litre at midnight on Tuesday, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday.

The price of 95 grade petrol will increase by 31 cents a litre, while the wholesale price of diesel will rise by 39.5 cents a litre.

The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will decrease by five cents a litre.

From 1 April, various increases to the petrol price announced by Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel in his Budget Speech in February will come into effect.

The new prices will include the increase in fuel tax on petrol and diesel as well as a 17.5 cents per litre increase in the Road Accident Fund levy.

The increases have also been attributed to the average international product prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin decreasing between 27 February and 26 March 2009.

According to the department, the average Rand/Dollar exchange rate weakened, during the period under review, compared to the previous period.