R3 petrol price cut extended in South Africa
South Africa extended cuts to fuel taxes amid the prolonged conflict in the Middle East, which threatens to raise domestic petrol and diesel prices further.
The R3.00-per-litre reduction in fuel levies announced at the end of last month will continue until 2 June, the National Treasury said in a statement on Tuesday.
In addition, temporary relief for diesel will be increased by 93 cents to R3.93 per litre over that period, it said.
“For the month of June 2026, the minister of finance proposes that the level of relief is halved to phase out the relief before July,” it said.
The estimated cost of the temporary fuel levy relief from April to June is R17.2 billion in foregone revenue, the Treasury said.
South Africa imports all its oil, the price of which has surged more than 50% since the start of the war on 28 February.
The increase is adding to consumer-price pressures, where fuel accounts for almost 4% of South Africa’s inflation basket.
The higher cost of diesel also threatens grain production as wheat farmers prepare to plant and summer crop growers get ready to harvest.
South Africa’s central bank, which targets inflation of 3%, projects price-growth pressures peaking at 4.3% in April.
Governor Lesetja Kganyago has warned that the monetary policy committee is prepared to raise interest rates should the impact on inflation of a prolonged war persist.
Forward rate agreements — used to speculate on borrowing costs — are pricing in a full quarter-point hike when policymakers next meet at the end of May, and another in July.
South Africa has also boosted oil-product shipments from the US to help replace lost supplies from the Middle East.
Before the conflict, Africa’s top oil-products importer sourced the bulk of its diesel, petrol and jet fuel from Gulf states including Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Nations around the world have raised fuel prices in the wake of the war, with South Africa increasing petrol prices by the most in almost two decades on 1 April.
The country is holding talks with importers and producers about how it calculates pump prices, according to the Fuel Industry Association of South Africa.
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