Petrol price cuts announced for June

South African motorists will experience some relief at the pumps from Wednesday, 4 June, with petrol and diesel prices set to come down by 5 cents and 37 cents per litre respectively. 

This was announced by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources on Tuesday, explaining that the decline in the fuel price has largely been driven by the strength of the rand.

The decline in prices would have been greater had the Finance Minister not announced an inflation-linked increase to the General Fuel Levy in his third Budget Speech. 

The General Fuel Levy will increase by 16 cents per litre for petrol and 15 cents per litre for diesel from 4 June. 

This resulted in the following changes to the price of fuel at the pumps for June –

• Petrol 93 – decrease of 5 cents per litre 
• Petrol 95 – decrease of 5 cents per litre
• Diesel 0.05% – decrease of 37 cents per litre
• Diesel 0.005% – decrease of 37 cents per litre

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana explained that the General Fuel Levy hike is necessary to limit the impact of the reversal of the planned VAT hike. 

This will be the first fuel levy increase in three years, with the government opting to keep the levy flat to ease the financial pressure on households.

“It means from the fourth of June this year, the General Fuel Levy will increase by 16 cents per litre for petrol and by 15 cents per litre for diesel,” Godongwana said. 

This will make the General Fuel Levy R4.01 per litre for petrol at the pump and R3.85 per litre for diesel from 4 June. As a result, taxes will make up 29.9% of the price of petrol and 33% of the price of diesel at the pump.

These increases cut the expected decline in the price of petrol and diesel by 19 cents and 50 cents per litre, respectively. 

With the oil price remaining largely flat month-on-month, the decline in the price of fuel has been driven by the strength of the rand versus the dollar. 

South Africa’s currency has been on a six-week advance versus the dollar, with it hitting a five-month high on 23 May. 

This came after the GNU survived the Budget debacle, with the third iteration from the Finance Minister gathering sufficient political support. 

The rand also managed to hold its own after President Ramaphosa met with his US counterpart on the same day as the Budget Speech to reset relations between the countries.

So far this month, it has started off below R18.00/USD, at R17.90/USD on Monday, 2 June 2025.

The rand dropped to R17.77/USD on Friday, 30 May 2025, and there is a likelihood of further modest volatility this year as well.

“Sentiment has improved somewhat as well, bolstering risk assets, as the US has been amenable to reducing tariffs through negotiations,” Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop said.

Mid-January saw the rand at R19.23/USD, then in April at R19.93/USD, as fears over the loss of the DA in the Government of National Unity (GNU) rattled markets. Public concerns also arose in April around the ANC’s dominance of the GNU.  

Bishop said this political risk that was elevated in April has not fully dissipated, with net sales of South African equities by foreign investors recorded for this year and for each month.

However, she said these sales lessened in May compared to earlier in the year.