The price of fuel is set to increase from Wednesday.
Image: Karen Sandison / Independent Media
Fuel prices are currently at four-year lows, but the good times could soon be over with petrol and diesel price increases on the cards for March, and very likely in April too.
The Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has announced that both grades of petrol will increase by 20 cents per litre from Wednesday, March 4, while diesel will go up by between 62 cents (500ppm) and 65 cents (50ppm).
This will see the price of a litre of 95 Unleaded rising to R19.47 at the coast and R20.30 in Gauteng, where the cheaper 93 Unleaded will retail for R20.19. Expect the wholesale price of diesel to reach R17.84 at the coast and R19.17 inland.
The fuel price hikes stem largely from elevated international product prices recorded during February. A firmer South African rand has, however, helped soften the blow, preventing increases that could otherwise have amounted to around 35 cents a litre for petrol and close to 80 cents for diesel.
According to the Department, the average Brent Crude oil price increased from US $64.08 to $69.08 during the period under review. The main contributing factors were higher shipping rates as well as the geopolitical uncertainty caused by the tension between the US and Iran.
Looking ahead, April is likely to bring further upward pressure at the pumps, not only because of the war in the Middle East, which has sent international oil prices surging in early March, but fuel taxes are set to rise too. On Wednesday morning, Brent Crude oil was trading at $77.79, which is 11.4% higher than it was a week prior.
During the 2026 Budget Speech last week, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed adjustments to both the General Fuel Levy (GFL) and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy.
Under the proposed changes, the GFL will rise by 9 cents per litre for petrol and 8 cents for diesel. The carbon fuel levy will also increase — by 5 cents for petrol and 6 cents for diesel — while the RAF levy is set to climb by a further 7 cents. In total, motorists are facing an additional 21 cents per litre across both fuel types.
Once these tax adjustments take effect on April 1, drivers will be contributing R2.25 per litre to the RAF, while the GFL component on petrol will increase to R4.10 per litre.
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Bobby Ramagwede, CEO of the Automobile Association, warned that across-the-board inflation-linked increases would add further strain to households already under financial pressure.
He said the Minister had an opportunity to offer meaningful relief to consumers by lowering mobility costs in order to stimulate economic activity.
“While inflationary tax adjustments may be defensible in principle, simply allocating more funding to the RAF does little to address its deep-rooted inefficiencies,” Ramagwede said.