The petrol price in South Africa is expected to surge in the months to come and according to experts, we may see the cost increase to a record-breaking R40 per litre.
South Africa petrol price expected to reach record highs
Motorists were left gobsmacked by remarks made by André Thomashausen, a professor of international law at UNISA, on the impact Russia’s attacks on Ukraine may have on South Africa’s petrol price.
Already, the world is preparing to buckle under massive increases in oil and gas after Monday’s market readings saw a 10% surge in Brent crude prices.
On Monday, the markets opened with the price of Brent crude oil sitting at $139.13 (est. R2 141.52) a barrel, a whopping $20 increase from Friday’s close of $118.03, per The Guardian.
If the picture remains this way within this period of fluctuations, Thomashausen suggests the petrol price in South Africa could skyrocket to R40 per litre from April 2022.
“In a worst-case scenario, South Africa could expect liquid fuel prices to increase to about R40 per litre,” he said.
Even worse, the surge will most certainly have an impact on the price of electricity since Eskom, with its flailing coal infrastructure, relies heavily on diesel to supplement energy reserves to meet the country’s demand for power.
“Eskom energy production depends much on imported diesel, electricity prices could increase by up to 40%. This could have a devastating effect on all the parameters of the current budget and sink South Africa’s hopes for a post-Covid economic recovery,” the professor added.
In the midst of ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine officials, former president Jacob Zuma, in a statement released by his foundation, lambasted the West for bullying President Vladimir Putin with “unjustifiable sanctions.”
The former head of state went as far as linking his booting from the president’s office to the same western forces supposedly using Ukraine as a front “so that Russia can be brought to its knees.”
“I am certain that His Excellency President Vladimir Putin will reciprocate and will bring all in his power to make peace a reality, as I know him to be a man of peace who has worked hard to ensure peace and stability in the globe,” the president noted.