A rallying oil price, combined with a weaker rand, will result in a sharp hike in fuel prices on Wednesday this week. Petrol (both 93 and 95) will see an increase of R1.21 a litre, while the price of diesel (0.05% and 0.005% sulphur) will rise by 148.2c a litre. The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will be hiked by R1.45 a litre, the department of mineral resources and energy (DMRE)…

The last record seen at UK pumps was in 2012.  The increase is in part due to a higher ethanol content in unleaded petrol - but the bulk of the price paid by consumers is tax. Brits are not alone: petrol prices have also broken records in France and Germany, while the AA recently warned a "catastrophic" fuel price hike was on the cards in SA. The price of petrol…

Core inflation figures released this week paint a dire picture of an economy in a deepening crisis. Coming in at 5%, moving to the upper end of the SA Reserve Bank’s 3% to 6% target range, consumer price inflation signals a clear prospect of a looming rise in interest rates to stem the increase. This, in turn, will put more pressure on cash-strapped consumers to meet not only their debt…

Analysts expect South Africa’s September consumer price inflation (CPI) to accelerate to either 5% or 5.1% from the 4.9% August inflation rate. FNB economist Siphamandla Mkhwanazi said the bank expects inflation to rise to 5.1%, an increase of 0.4% month-on-month. Nedbank economist Tachin Ramnath and Tshepo Moloi, economist at the Bureau for Economic Research, said their forecasts show respective CPI increases of 0.3% and 0.2% month-on-month for September, taking the…

Food distribution in Tigray has been hamstrung by fuel shortages. The UN says famine threatens the population. 14 fuel trucks are stranded in the Afar region. Fuel shortages have forced some aid groups to suspend food distribution in Ethiopia's war-hit Tigray region, where famine stalks hundreds of thousands of people, the UN said. Some 14 fuel trucks are stranded in Afar region, home to the only viable land route into…