https://www.miningweekly.com

Fuel-price intervention will have ‘no impact on fiscus’

Fuel-price intervention will have ‘no impact on fiscus’

Photo by Creamer Media

6th September 2018

By: Terence Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

     

Font size: - +

Cabinet insisted on Thursday that Energy Minister Jeff Radebe’s intervention to hold fuel prices steady in September – rather than to allow for the August under-recovery to be passed on to motorists as usual – would have no impact on the fiscus.

In a statement released following its Wednesday meeting, Cabinet said that the country’s national finances were protected from the intervention, as it made use of funds that were already in the fuel-pricing structure.

No further details were provided, but Engineering News Online understands that the slate levy mechanism will be used to fund the intervention. The slate levy is a levy paid by motorists to recover money owed to the oil companies, owing to the time delay in the adjustment of the petrol pump price.

In the absence of the intervention, the petrol price would have increased by a further 32c/l on September 5. Instead, the price rose by only 4.9c/l to accommodate an increase in the retail margin of petrol to cater for the annual salary increases of employees, such as petrol attendants, at fuel stations.

Cabinet welcomed the unchanged fuel price, which it said would offer “once-off temporary relief for users of public transport, motorists and consumers, while other measures are being sought by the Department of Energy”.  

Cabinet also expressed concern about the detrimental effects that fuel-price increases had had during 2018 on consumers, as well as the inflationary impact of the hikes on producers, which were being passed to the retail sector.

During the course of 2017, motorists have been confronted with several large fuel hikes, which precipitated campaigns by the Democratic Alliance and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse for a reduction in the fuel levy.

The inland petrol price rose to a record R16.03 a litre in August from R11.24 in January, while coastal prices increased to R15.44 a litre, from R10.83 at the start of the year. Likewise, diesel prices in Gauteng surged from R10.28 a litre in January to a peak of R14.44 in July, before moderating slightly in August.

“Taking this into account, the Minister of Energy, Mr Jeff Radebe, made a special intervention on behalf of government to cushion the public against yet another steep increase in the fuel price,” the Cabinet statement read.

“At a time when the economy is being impacted by global headwinds, Cabinet is pleased that this intervention has no impact on the fiscus as it uses funds that are already in the fuel-pricing structure,” it added.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

Showroom

Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa (Pty) Ltd
Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa (Pty) Ltd

Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa is sole distributors for Goodwin electrically driven, submersible, abrasion resistance slurry pumps.

VISIT SHOWROOM 
VEGA Controls SA (Pty) Ltd
VEGA Controls SA (Pty) Ltd

For over 60 years, VEGA has provided industry-leading products for the measurement of level, density, weight and pressure. As the inventor of the...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.134 0.171s - 90pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now