The Automobile Association is cautiously optimistic that the petrol price will drop by about 24c per litre from next month — a prediction that would be a welcome development for consumers, writes Matthew Savides.
“Ongoing volatility in international oil prices has been matched by swings in the Rand/US dollar exchange rate‚ making fuel price predictions as tricky as ever‚” the AA said in a statement on Tuesday morning.
It said that while the rand started the month strongly against the dollar — which bodes well for petrol prices — it had since weakened. It was a similar case with the international cost of petroleum‚ which started the month relatively cheap but “made something of a comeback in the past few days“.
Despite this volatility‚ the consumer was “still winning“‚ the association said.
“The current data (predicts) a drop of 24 cents a litre for petrol‚ 20 cents for diesel‚ and 21 cents for illuminating paraffin. We wouldn’t rely on these figures though‚ since a lot could change by month end‚” the AA commented.
