Johannesburg - South Africa's petrol price will rise by 74 cents a litre from Wednesday, while the wholesale price of diesel will increase by up to 93 cents, the energy department announced on Monday.
This means that motorists in Gauteng will now pay R14.60 a litre for 93 Unleaded petrol and R14.82 for 95 Unleaded, while the coastal price for 95 rises to R14.23.
The wholesale price of 0.05 ppm diesel will increase to R14.05 inland and R13.56 at the coast, although as the diesel price is not regulated, those prices exclude the service station margins.
The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will rise by 76 cents per litre.
More fuel price pain coming in April
South Africans will be hit with yet another fuel price increase in April thanks to tax hikes that come into effect from the beginning of that month.
During his 2019 Budget Speech Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced that fuel levies would increase by 29 cents a litre in the case of petrol and 30 cents a litre for diesel.
The hikes will however be implemented in stages, with the first 20 cents coming into effect from the beginning of April, this being a combination of a 15 cent hike in the general fuel levy and 5 cents for the Road Accident Fund. The remaining 9 cents a litre for petrol and 10 c/l for diesel will only come into effect in June as a carbon tax.
International oil prices and rand responsible for March increase
Oil prices and the South African rand were collectively responsible for the March price increase that comes into effect on Wednesday.
"The average Brent Crude oil price increased from US$60.00 to US$64.00 per barrel during the period under review," the energy department said, citing an agreement by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, other non-OPEC producers and Russia to reduce oil supply to global markets by 1.2 million barrels per day.
The rand also lost value during the month of February, starting out at R13.29 to the US dollar but quickly rising beyond the R14 mark as load shedding took its toll.