FUEL PRICE DROPS

South Africa – May 2020 will soon join April in setting back-to-back records for monthly fuel price drops. This is according to the Automobile Association (AA), who was commenting on unaudited month-end data released by the Central Energy Fund.

Against the backdrop of the international oil picture, even the disastrous performance of the Rand versus the US dollar over April barely moved the needle on local fuel prices. The local currency's average value against the dollar plunged from R16.45 on 26 March to R18.45 on 28 April, with daily peaks in excess of R19 to the dollar.

Petrol is set to drop by around R1.74 a litre in May, with diesel falling by R1.56 and illuminating paraffin a whopping R2.18.

“The Rand has been pummelled by COVID-19 and the Moody's downgrade to junk status, and yet we are still able to predict record-territory fuel price drops. This goes to show just how severely the world oil price has collapsed.”

AA press release extracts, 29 April 2020