On Monday night, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced that fuel prices will increase on Wednesday due to a global supply shortage. The price of 95 and 93 unleaded petrol will rise by R1.27 per litre, while diesel will increase by 30 to 32 cents.
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The price of illuminating paraffin will increase by 13 cents per litre, while the maximum retail price of LP gas will increase by R5.22 per kilogramme.
The price of a litre of 95 unleaded petrol in Gauteng will rise to R22.95, while it will rise to R22.30 on the coast.
On Wednesday, the Gauteng diesel price will be R21.62, up from R18.87 a year ago.
Because oil is priced in dollars, fuel prices are heavily influenced by the oil price as well as the rand. The rand suffered a significant loss in February as the dollar rallied on expectations that US interest rates would be raised by large margins. The local currency weakened from R17.04/$ at the start of the month to R18.40 on Monday.
According to the department, petrol prices are increasing faster than diesel prices due to lower global inventory levels and the seasonal closure of refineries in some countries. It also stated that the impact of EU sanctions on Russian diesel imports had already been factored in.
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