JOHANNESBURG– The fuel price increase in South Africa which went into effect at midnight on Tuesday will push the cost to record highs and could negatively affect the freight and transport industry, according to the spokesperson of the Automobile Association of South Africa, Layton Beard.
He said here Tuesday that the AA was concerned about the effect of the fuel price hikes on South Africa’s poor. The price of petrol will increase by 49 cents, diesel by 60 cents and the price of illuminating paraffin by 52 cents per litre.
Beard said the latest petrol price increase would send the price to the highest in the history of South Africa.
It’s going to touch on 14.72 Rand (about 1.16 US dollars) (per litre), which is the highest it’s ever been since December 2017 when it was at record highs then of 14.49 Rand,” he noted.
“These increases are of very great concern to the Automobile Association and come off the back of a number of other increases, specifically to (highway) toll fees. We’ve seen an increase to the VAT (value added tax) rate; we’ve seen an increase to the fuel price in April, which included a 52 cents increase on the fuel levies and this is specifically worrying in the context of the poorest of the poor, who are going to suffer the most from this.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK