Pretoria - South African motorists will be forking out 45 cents more per litre of petrol from 4 March, while diesel drivers will enjoy a decrease of 38 cents per litre, the Department of Minerals and Energy reported on Friday.
The wholesale price of diesel with 0.05 percent sulphur content and 0.005 percent sulphur content will decrease by 38 cents a litre.
Speaking to BuaNews on Friday, Chief Economist at Nedbank Dennis Dykes said there had been some under recovery on petrol figures and that he had expected an increase of 40 cents or more in the petrol price.
Diesel on the other hand had an over recovery and he was expected a decrease of over 30 cents.
The increases in the Road Accident Fund (RAF) tax and government fuel levies, as announced by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in his February 2009 Budget Speech, will come into play in April this year.
Mr Dykes explained: "We can expect an additional increase of about 40 cents with the taxes and levies going up. The money raised by the increase in the levies will go towards funding provincial expenditure."
The department reported the wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will decrease by 26 cents a litre and the single maximum national retail price for illuminating paraffin will decrease by 34 cents a litre.
The average Rand/Dollar exchange rate weakened when compared to the previous period, the department said, adding the average exchange rate for the period 30 January to 26 February 2009 was R10.06 compared to R9.93 during the previous period.
The Reserve Bank reported earlier on Friday that the Rand/Dollar exchange has deteriorated significantly from R8.04 in September 2008, to R9.89 to the Dollar in January 2009.
