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Rand Drop, Tax Conspire to Push South Africa Fuel to Record

Rand Drop, Tax Conspire to Push South Africa Fuel to Record

(Bloomberg) -- South Africans will pay a record-high price for fuel from Wednesday and the government will pocket more than a third of that.

Of the 16.02 rand ($1.16) motorists will pay for a liter for the 95-octane gasoline in the province of Gauteng, home to the economic and administrative capitals, taxes and levies account for 5.44 rand.

Rand Drop, Tax Conspire to Push South Africa Fuel to Record

In neighboring Botswana, unleaded gasoline costs about 8.54 pula ($0.82) and taxes account for 16 percent of the price.

Rand Drop, Tax Conspire to Push South Africa Fuel to Record

The fuel price in South Africa, an oil importer, is heavily influenced by international crude costs and the rand, explaining part of the increase in pump prices so far this year. Crude climbed 11 percent in June, while the rand weakened 7.6 percent to the dollar, the most among major currencies. It’s now at 13.6332 against the greenback. But the rate of growth in fuel taxes and levies has outpaced inflation for at least the past six years.

Rand Drop, Tax Conspire to Push South Africa Fuel to Record

--With assistance from Mbongeni Mguni.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rene Vollgraaff in Johannesburg at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro, Pauline Bax

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.