Mixed festive season outlook at the pumps predicted

The Automobile Association (AA) has painted a mixed picture for December in spite of a forecasting an overall downturn at the pumps.

Commenting on mid-month unaudited data released by the Central Energy Fund on Friday (15 November), the AA said that while it expects the price of petrol to increase by between seven and 11 cents a litre, diesel will go down by 18 cents and illuminating paraffin by 21 cents.

“The average Rand/US dollar exchange rate has been essentially flat, contributing a small decrease of about 3.5 cents to fuel prices as it maintains a level around R14.90 to the dollar. The picture for oil is similar, with the international prices of both petrol and diesel having run neck-and-neck for several days last week,” the AA said in a statement.

It, however, warned that the increase, “at this time of year will come as bad news for many people who will be travelling on holiday in December. However, the predicted drop in the diesel price means input costs in for instance the manufacturing and agricultural sectors remain relatively untouched concerning fuel costs, which is good news”.