South African motorists are in for hefty fuel price increases as well as upward adjustments to toll fees for March 2019.

South African consumers, who are already under considerable financial strain, will have to brace for a double blow in March 2019 as both fuel prices and toll fees are expected to rise sharply.

Based on unaudited month-end data released by the Central Energy Fund, rising international petroleum prices during February 2019 will result in sharp fuel price increases in March 2019.

The AA says that the price of petrol is expected to increase by approximately 73 cents per litre while the price of diesel will increase by as much as 92 cents per litre.

"The Rand/US dollar exchange rate has worked slightly in South Africa's favour during February, giving savings of up to nine cents a litre. However, this has been shouldered aside by fuel price rises which have come off their January plateau and advanced considerably," the Association says.

The impact of rising fuel prices will coincide with toll free increases as of 1 March 2019 as well as increases to the General Road Fund and the Road Accident Fund levies which will be applied in April 2019. But that’s not all, an additional Carbon Tax will come into effect in June 2019 where an additional 9 cents and 10 cents will be added to the price of petrol and diesel respectively.

"In the medium term, we expect world supply will slightly outstrip demand as the USA continues to make impressive progress with its domestic oil production. However, petroleum prices remain vulnerable to geopolitical shocks and we cannot rule out further price hikes in the first half of 2019" says the AA.

Earlier this week, the AA also commented, “The increasing costs associated with road travel in South Africa will make everything more expensive, and will certainly have a direct and indirect impact on consumers. It also makes it harder for job seekers to find work as few of them have the resources to pay current transport costs, let alone increased fees. This, in particular, is worrying given the country’s high unemployment rate.

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