Latest Industry News and Projected Fuel Prices for April 2025
For the third year in a row, the Finance Minister has opted to leave the general fuel taxes unchanged, but an increase in the carbon tax will be implemented. Plus, significant decreases on the cards for petrol and diesel for April 2025.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has given South African motorists a break. The revised 2025 budget sticks to his original plan to prevent fuel levy hikes. Presenting the revised 2025 budget on Wednesday (12 March), the minister said that the general fuel levy will remain frozen for another year. The Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy and the customs and excise levy will also remain unchanged.
According to Godongwana, freezing the GFL and RAF levy for another year will provide around R4 billion in tax relief to motorists and help soften the blow of the proposed VAT hike. While VAT will no longer jump by two percentage points, the National Treasury still proposed a one percentage point increase over two years. This would see VAT increase to 15.5% in 2025 and to 16% in 2026. To reduce the impact on taxpayers, Godongwana expanded the basket of zero-rated goods and frozen fuel levies. Fuel levies have been frozen since April 2022.
However, this does not mean all fuel taxes have been frozen. Motorists will still be paying more taxes for fuel from April, with the carbon fuel levy going up by 3cpl. “The carbon tax plays an integral role in South Africa’s climate change mitigation efforts. It increased from R190 to R236 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent from 1 January 2025,” Treasury said.
From 2 April 2025, the carbon fuel levy will increase by 3cpl from 11cpl to 14cpl for petrol and from 14cpl to 17cpl for diesel, as required under the Carbon Tax Act (2019).
Even with the hiked carbon tax, though, motorists can look forward to some relief at the pumps in April.
April 2025 fuel prices: Predicted changes for petrol and diesel…so far
Mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) shows that South African motorists are in store for good news next month, with diesel and petrol showing sizeable over-recoveries.
Petrol prices show an over-recovery of between 82 and 96 cents per litre, while diesel prices show an over-recovery of about 90 cents per litre.
The over-recoveries are driven by a lower oil price relative to February 2025 and a firmer rand.
These are the projections at mid-month:
- Petrol 93:decrease of 82 cents per litre
- Petrol 95: decrease of 96 cents per litre
- Diesel 0.05% (wholesale):decrease of 89 cents per litre
- Diesel 0.005% (wholesale):decrease of 90 cents per litre