Cape Town - Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has confirmed plans by government to cushion people amid rising fuel prices due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Mantashe, who was part of the Economics Cluster of Ministers answering questions in Parliament on Wednesday, said he had met with his counterpart at Finance Enoch Godongwana on the matter.
He said part of the short-term measures was to contain the expected price increases in April and May.
But they also have a long-term plan to help people and prevent the rise of the prices.
He said the conflict in Ukraine was having an impact on the prices of fuel and they needed to find mechanisms to deal with it.
Earlier Godongwana told Parliament they were working with Mantashe and his department to find a short-term and long-term plan to mitigate high prices.
Mantashe said the strategic fuel stock is part of the intervention measures they will use in the short-term.
“The minister of finance raised the issue that in our discussions we are putting together a plan that is targeting April and May. The reason for that is that it is anticipated that the price of petroleum in April will go up by up to R2 and more.
“The intervention is intended to mitigate the impact of that increase and May is the second month and hopefully by the end of two months there will be direction taken in the conflict itself.
“What we are working on at the same time is to avoid creating an impression that we can give up a lot of things and derail the fiscal framework that was announced in Parliament. We don’t want to do that. We want to intervene, mitigate against the impact of the high petroleum prices,” Mantashe said.
“Hopefully, when there is peace, prices will systematically come down. Then we can look at staggered interventions like the said strategic fuel stock is one of them and many other interventions,” he said.
Political Bureau