Fuel price set to increase

The price of petrol is expected to increase marginally by 1 cent a litre at midnight. However, the price of diesel and illuminating paraffin is expected to decrease by 21-cents a litre, and 26-cents a litre respectively.

The marginal increase in the petrol price results from an increase in the price of Brent crude oil sparked by fears of closures of production facilities due to hurricanes in parts of the United States.

Other contributions to the increase came from a weaker Rand against the US dollar during the period under review.

Layton Beard of the Automobile Association says, “Had the Rand not strengthened against the dollar in the last couple of days that increase would have been a little bigger. I think a 1 cent increase is not massive and it’s something we can deal with.   In terms of the diesel decrease, I think that is good news for the consumer considering that the diesel is used in the manufacturing process. And when that comes down, then it is good news indirectly for consumers because it means that input costs for manufacturing don’t need to be increased to accommodate for that.”

Source: SABC News (sabcnews.com)