The Automobile Association predicted that if current trends persist, South Africans will pay around 35 cents a litre more for petrol from next month, 33 cents extra for diesel and an additional 29 cents for illuminating paraffin.
"For the first time in a while, the rand has shown reasonable strength against the US dollar during one of our reporting periods. However, this is not enough to counter rampant increases in the international prices of fuels, which have risen by up to six percent in the past two weeks," the AA said.
The association added that had the currency not strengthened, the projected increase would have been closer to 50 cents a litre.
However, the rand has weakened in recent days, and at the time of writing it was trading at R13.18. Should this weakness persist, October’s fuel price increase will exceed the current 35-cent prediction.