By Bahle Gama
Motorists in Eswatini will be pleased to learn that the increased fuel prices that will be implemented on Wednesday in South Africa will not have an impact locally.
On Monday, November 4, 2024, the South African Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources published the official fuel price adjustments that will take effect on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
October saw the global price of diesel climb significantly, and the Rand came in weaker relative to September, leading to an under-recovery in both petrol and diesel prices.
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This according to BusinessTech has translated to a slight price hike at the pumps, breaking the streak of five consecutive months of price cuts
Prices will be going up by 25 cents per litre for petrol and between 20 and 21 cents per litre for diesel.
Unaudited data shows that 93 octane unleaded petrol (93 ULP) and 95 octane unleaded petrol (95 ULP) are expected to climb by 14 cents a litre and 25 cents a litre, respectively, and diesel by around 22 cents per litre.
As of this coming Wednesday, a litre of 95ULP inland will climb from its current level of E21.05/l to E21.30/l, while the price of 93ULP inland will increase from E20.73/l to E20.87/l.
As is always the case, when South Africa sneezes, Eswatini catches the flu, a common fact across almost all the sectors in the neighbouring country.
In a brief interview with the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy Sikelela Khoza, he stated that they were closely monitoring the situation, stating that the country’s petroleum engineers will report back should there be any changes.
“It is worth noting that we are not affected by every ‘flue’ that affects South Africa. For now, we are not implementing any hike or drop but if there is a need and the cabinet has approved, we will make the necessary announcement,” Khoza said.
The Communications Officer acknowledged that Eswatini does share similar reserves with South Africa, like crude oil, but for now, the country’s prices remain the same.
According to MoneyWebb, despite the increases the higher prices are still cheaper than those experienced at the beginning of the year.
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The average international product prices for Petrol, Diesel and Illuminating Paraffin increased during the period under review.
The Rand appreciated against the US Dollar during the period under review, on average, when compared to the previous period. The average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate for the period September 27, 2024, to October 31, 2024, was 17.5301 compared to 17.6723 during the previous period.
This led to a lower contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 8.34 c/l, 8.49 c/l, and 8.49 c/l respectively.
In line with the provisions of the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, the Slate Levy on petrol and diesel will remain at 0.00 c/l with effect from 06 November 2024.
