Markets are unimpressed with Ramaphosa's promises.
Lower oil futures and a weak rand paint a shaky picture for fuel prices in South Africa.
The South African rand has seen slight but impactful fluctuations within the first week of the year.
The rand took a hit in trade on Thursday (3 November) following the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raising its target range for the federal funds rate to 3.75% - 4.00% - or 75bp higher.
The rand buckled against the dollar on Tuesday (25 October), testing R18.50 - having closed last week closer to R18 against the greenback.
Despite South Africa's petrol and diesel prices normally being closely aligned, this trend has changed in the last few months, with diesel prices now expected to rise despite projected drops in the cost of petrol.
The rand continued to weaken against the dollar in morning trade on Friday (02 September), but is not alone as the US currency has flexed against major adversaries in recent sessions after data showed a resilient local economy, providing more…
Andre Cilliers, a currency strategist at TreasuryONE, says that despite a weakening of the rand in recent sessions, it still remains undervalued.
With South Africans learning to live with the current cycle of stage 6 load shedding, many believe the ongoing power cuts to be the antagonist behind the weak rand. However, treasury experts say the power outages are only a small…
Eskom has again taken centre stage at a time when South Africa can ill afford blackouts at increasing regularity, and for longer periods of the day - while strike action is also unwelcome amid growing global economic concerns and rising…