It remains uncertain whether South African motorists will still see any meaningful relief at the pumps in August. The latest data from the Central Energy Fund shows petrol prices could drop by just over a rand per litre next month.

The projections suggest 93 octane petrol will decrease by up to R1.30 per litre, while 95 octane could come down by R1.26 per litre.

However, the outlook for diesel is less encouraging, with an increase expected. But market analysts warn that the recent surge in global oil prices could swiftly erode any remaining relief at the pumps.

Oil prices surged on Thursday to their highest levels in nearly two months, hitting 100 dollars per barrel.

Portfolio Manager at Rand Swiss, Viv Govender, says market pressures are edging the country closer to an under-recovery.

“The Central Energy Fund has basically said that the amount of the drop you can expect in the petrol price has significantly decreased over the last couple of weeks. At the end of June, we were expecting something in excess of R3 in terms of a drop coming through because of the price of crude oil plus the strength of the rand. In the last couple days, that has dropped significantly and now we’re barely looking at any decrease coming through. The reason is that the price of oil has sharply increased. We’ve seen brent crude oil go from the 70s to like almost 100 again. In fact, it just breached 100 a couple times.”

VIDEO | Motorists saw a fuel price decrease in July:

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