MINISTRY DASHES FUEL PRICE DROP HOPES

MANZINI – Hold your horses!

As motorists and logistics companies in South Africa will heave a sigh of relief as fuel prices will drop today, locally the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy said it did not base it’s pricing on what was happening in the neighbouring country. In South Africa, petrol prices will drop by R1.32 (which is equivalent to E1.32) a litre, for both 93 and 95 unleaded, while diesel prices will be lowered by 88 cents a litre (0.05 per cent sulphur) and 91 cents (0.005 per cent sulphur) a litre. The South African Rand is pegged with the local currency – Lilangeni.
The fuel price reduction was announced by the South African (SA) Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on Saturday evening.

According to News 24, a South African online publication, in Gauteng, the price of 95 unleaded petrol will be E25.42 a litre from today, which when compared to a year ago, was E18.30.
It was reported that paraffin prices will decrease by E1.44 a litre, while the maximum LPGas retail price, however, will increase by 57 cents/kg. News 24 reported that in July, fuel prices were hiked by more than 10 per cent. “Local fuel prices are determined in part by international oil prices, as well as the dollar-rand value, as South Africa buys oil in dollars. Over the past month, the oil price has weakened, with Brent crude currently at around US$110 a barrel. It hit a high of US$123 in March, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roiled markets. While the rand crashed through R17 to the dollar earlier in July, it is now trading around R16.60,” reported News 24.

The SA Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, it was reported, said the temporary reduction in the general fuel levy of 75 cents per litre, which was implemented in the price structures of petrol and diesel came to an end yesterday. As a result, it was reported, the fuel levy would amount to 394c/l for petrol and 380c/l for diesel. The fuel levy reduction, which attempted to cushion consumers from the impact of skyrocketing oil prices, came in to effect in April. The temporary reduction of R1.50 per litre was reduced to 75c per litre in July.
Meanwhile, locally, the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, Sikelela Khoza, said: “The ministry does not base it’s pricing on what is happening to the South African fuel price, but it has its own system of monitoring and reviewing fuel prices.”

Khoza said if there was any likelihood of the fuel price going up or down, the ministry would inform the public through the normal way of issuing a press release. Last month, Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy Dorcas Dlamini announced that the increment of fuel prices was a result of the persistent increase in the international oil prices due to the persistent geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine which were disrupting the global oil supply. This, she said, resulted in a weaker Lilangeni/Dollar exchange rate such that crude oil prices increased to an average of US$118 (E1 882) per barrel in the month of June 2022 from an average of US$110 (E1 728.10) a barrel realised in the month of May 2022. Subsequent to this, the PS informed the nation that the new fuel prices would result in Unleaded Petrol (ULP 95) increasing from E21.55 per litre to E23.85 per litre while diesel (0.005%S) shall retail at E24.40/litre as it increased from E22.10/litre.

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