How much you would pay for petrol today if the government did not tax it

The petrol price in South Africa is going up from today, 4 July 2018.

While petrol price increases are expected, and begrudgingly accepted, by South Africans, the July hike was a particularly unpleasant one.

The Department of Energy stated that the 93 and 95 grades of petrol will go up by 26 cents and 23 cents a litre respectively. This means that 95 octane petrol will cost:

• Coastal – R15.53 per litre
• Inland – R16.02 per litre

Making matters worse is that Efficient Group economist Dawie Roodt predicts this price hike may be followed by an increase of around 25 cents a litre in August 2018.

This expected increase could be even greater if the rand continues to fall or if the price of crude oil rises further.

“We are now paying more for fuel than ever before in the history of our country and this is going to have a significant impact on the growth of the economy,” said Roodt.

Taxes and levies

Compounding motorists’ anger is the level of maladministration in the South African government and government entities – which receive a large chunk of what citizens pay for each litre of fuel.

Of the R16.02 you pay for a litre of 95 octane petrol inland, R3.37 of that is a fuel levy, for example.

If you removed only the government’s fuel levy and Road Accident Fund levy, petrol would already be R5.30 cheaper – making it R10.73 per lite.

A breakdown of the fuel price in South Africa is below.

Now read: Petrol price increases – Now over R16 per litre