South Africa enters Africa’s costly petrol top 10
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has entered an October ranking of Africa’s 10 most expensive countries for petrol, alongside Lesotho, replacing Uganda and Senegal. Malawi leads the list, while South Africa ranks seventh, according to GlobalPetrolPrices data dated 19 October and the ranking reported by Business Insider Africa.
Where motorists pay more
Among African countries covered by the dataset, Malawi has the highest dollar-denominated petrol price, followed by Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and Rwanda. The Central African Republic ranks sixth, ahead of South Africa, Seychelles, Lesotho and Kenya. The comparison concerns 95-octane petrol, rather than all fuel types.
GlobalPetrolPrices lists Malawi’s petrol at approximately US$3.23 per litre, compared with US$1.82 in South Africa. Its South African series records R29.82 per litre, up from R26.49 a month earlier. At those prices, a 50-litre purchase costs R1,491, an increase of R166.50.
Prices and affordability differ
The ranking provides a snapshot of pump prices converted into US dollars. It does not measure how affordable petrol is relative to wages, and exchange-rate movements can change a country’s position even when its local-currency price remains unchanged.
GlobalPetrolPrices identifies taxes and subsidies as important reasons for differences between countries. Its figures also combine weekly and monthly updates, depending on how frequently prices change in each market.
For South African households and businesses using petrol vehicles, the immediate consequence is a larger fuel bill for the same distance travelled. The practical pressure comes from that increase in rand terms, regardless of where the country sits in the continental ranking.
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