As the country holds its breath for confirmation of a fuel hike on Friday, economist Mike Schussler believes it will not break the R5 barrier this year.
Preliminary figures released this week show that motorists should expect to pay an additional 19c a litre from midnight next Wednesday.
For Gauteng drivers, this means they will be paying R4,87 a litre for petrol, R1,09 more than in January.
But Schussler said on Thursday this is still below what the market had expected the increase to be.
He said the strong rand has protected the South African motorists from the havoc high Brent oil prices are wreaking on the rest of the world.
He said South Africa has not been as badly affected by the $52-a-barrel highs the market has seen.
”Had our rand/dollar exchange rate been around R7, then we would have already been paying R7 a litre for our fuel,” he said.
Instead, said Schussler, South Africa’s fuel prices are not expected to break the R5-a-litre mark this year.
According to the Department of Minerals and Energy, wholesale diesel is expected to increase by 24c a litre and illuminating paraffin is expected to increase by 33c a litre to R3,64.
Coastal motorists will be paying slightly less with petrol expected to cost R4,60 and paraffin R3,13.
The department said on Thursday the prices have not yet been finalised.
The exact figures will be released on Friday morning. — Sapa