Remember to fill up
The petrol price is set to increase with 36 cents per litre on 5 March.
The third petrol price increase for this year so far is upon us, with petrol going up with a staggering 36 cents on 5 March.
This will be the third consecutive month of petrol price increases between of between 30 and 40 cents with another one expected early in April.
At first glance, this may look like a devastating blow to already cash strapped consumers, but on closer inspection, it may not be as bad as it looks.
If one looks at the petrol price during the same period last year, we experienced similar steep increases during the first three months of the year only for the price to decrease significantly in May.
The expected price increase in April may, according to Econometrix, not even happen, as the increase announcement during Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech did not take into account that the Rand/ Dollar exchange rate has actually been strengthening recently.
If the Rand/ Dollar exchange rate remain constant at current levels, the price of petrol might actually decrease early in April.
Still, the rapidly increasing petrol prices remain a bitter pill for consumers to swallow.
