AS from today, June 3 motorists will have to feel the pinch of the fuel hikes after the Department of Energy announced an increase in the retail price of all grades of petrol by R1.18 cents per litre. Diesel will rise by 22 cents.

The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, announced the adjustment of fuel prices based on current local and international factors on Monday, June 1.

Rank manager at Greytown Taxi Rank, Khanyisani Ntuli, said taxi drivers in his route will not raise taxi fares.

“We can assure commuters that at this stage taxi drivers will not raise taxi fares as petrol prices increased,” he said.

The department said South Africa’s fuel prices are adjusted on a monthly basis, informed by international and local factors.

“International factors include the fact that South Africa imports both crude oil and finished products at a price set at the international level, including importation costs, e.g. shipping costs,” the department said.

The main reasons for the fuel price adjustments are due to:

• The contribution of the Rand/US Dollar exchange rate.

The Rand appreciated slightly, on average, against the US Dollar (from 18.47 to 18.17 Rands per USD) during the period under review when compared to the previous one.

This led to lower contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by over 6.00 c/l(Centilitre).

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/local/greytown-gazette/petrol-hikes-kick-in-today-20200602