Rand drop, tax conspire to push SA fuel to record

South Africans will pay a record-high price for fuel from Wednesday and the government will pocket more than a third of that.

Of the R16.02 motorists will pay for a litre for the 95-octane gasoline in the province of Gauteng, home to the economic and administrative capitals, taxes and levies account for R5.44.

In neighbouring Botswana, unleaded gasoline costs about 8.54 pula ($0.82) and taxes account for 16 percent of the price.

The fuel price in South Africa, an oil importer, is heavily influenced by international crude costs and the rand, explaining part of the increase in pump prices so far this year. Crude climbed 11% in June, while the rand weakened 7.6% to the dollar, the most among major currencies. It’s now at 13.63 against the greenback. But the rate of growth in fuel taxes and levies has outpaced inflation for at least the past six years.

� L.P