South Africa is paying an exorbitant sum for petrol in 2023, but it’s far from the only country that’s been affected by the current economic climate.
Oil prices have been on the rise over the past two years as the global economy gradually recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, with diesel often being more adversely affected than petrol owing to it being the fuel more commonly used in commercial ventures and occupying a smaller slice of the overall fuel market.
Additionally, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 resulted in trade sanctions against the northern-European state, which is usually a major oil and gas exporter to the rest of Europe.
The lack of Russian-made petroleum in many Western markets has subsequently pushed up demand from smaller producers with less capacity, which in turn has also raised prices.
What the world is paying
While petrol prices in South Africa may be a cause for concern, the silver lining is that it appears to be paying an average or even a slightly lower rate than many other countries around the world.
These are the most recent petrol prices that people are currently paying in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Country | Cost per litre | Cost per litre in Rand |
---|---|---|
United States | 1.02 USD | R19.16 |
Australia | 1.62 AUD | R20.21 |
South Africa | 22.46 ZAR | R22.46 |
Canada | 1.78 CAD | R25.17 |
New Zealand | 2.73 NZD | R31.73 |
United Kingdom | 1.43 GBP | R34.42 |
The US is, unsurprisingly, paying the least for petrol out of any of the compared nations, given that it is both a major oil producer and that the US dollar is the reserve currency that global petroleum prices are linked to.
As such, in addition to oil trading prices, most countries around the world also price their fuels according to the rate at which their currency swap hands with the dollar.
Taking this into account, South Africa is actually not paying that much more than Australia, which is arguably its most comparable economy out of the listed nations, and it’s paying less than Canada.
This is because Australia predominantly uses the slightly cheaper petrol 91 compared to the 93 and 95 octane used in South Africa, and Canada is currently experiencing irregularly high inflation levels which are affecting the cost of fuel and other basic goods.
New Zealand and the UK, on the other hand, appear to be paying a lot more than other countries, with the former seeing these high pump prices because of the return of petrol taxes that had been suspended for the last 18 months as a Covid relief measure, while the latter is experiencing the economic strain that the Ukraine war and Brexit have had on Europe’s oil and gas supply.
It’s a similar story with diesel, which you can see below:
Country | Cost per litre | Cost per litre in Rand |
---|---|---|
United States | 0.99 USD | R18.60 |
South Africa | 19.81 ZAR | R19.81 |
Australia | 1.67 AUD | R20.83 |
New Zealand | 1.84 NZD | R21.39 |
Canada | 1.53 CAD | R21.64 |
United Kingdom | 1.45 GBP | R34.90 |
Again the US is paying the least per litre, though this time South Africa is paying less than any of the commonwealth nations.
One difference to highlight here is that Australia and the UK are paying slightly more for diesel than petrol in July 2023, despite diesel being the historically cheaper fuel, highlighting how the global demand for the less refined propellant has gone up as many economies return to their pre-Covid production levels.
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