• The expected, June 2025 petrol price will be higher as a fuel levy tax has been proposed by the latest Budget.
• Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that the petrol tax would be the only tax increase this year, but more would come next year.
• The CEF was expecting some of the lowest fuel prices in year next month, now soured by the incoming tax.

While South Africans are talking about the heated meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Donald Trump at the Oval Office last night, a major announcement also took place a few hours earlier as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana finally gave his long-anticipated revised budget speech in Parliament.

The previous budget set by the minister had to be revised after extensive pushback from GNU partner parties after Godongwana proposed an increase of one percent to VAT over two years, itself already lowered from a two percent increase that would have crashed upon South Africans this year.

With this third revision of the budget, Godongwana only had one tax measure to propose and it will affect only motorists in South Africa, as the measure will see an increased taxation on petrol and fuel products through an additional percentage applied to the fuel levy.

“This budget proposes an inflation-linked increase to the general fuel levy. For the 2025/26 fiscal year, this is the only new tax proposal that I am announcing. This is the first fuel levy increase in three years,” the minister said

“It means from the fourth of June this year, the general fuel levy will increase by 16 cents per litre for petrol, and by 15 cents per litre for diesel,” he explained.

This is not the only bad news for South Africans as the minister says that this sole tax increase for 2025 will not be able to sort out the government’s money shortfall. The government needs cash, around R20 billion, and Godongwana tells residents to prepare for heftier taxes next year.

“Unfortunately, this tax measure alone will not close the fiscal gap over the medium term. The 2026 Budget will therefore need to propose new tax measures, aimed at raising R20 billion.”

This third edition of the 2025 will likely be passed in Parliament, seeing as it was figured out with involvement from GNU partners. This means that from June 2025, South African motorists should prepare for a bit of sourness at the pumps.

New taxes on the price of petrol and other fuels come as South Africans were anticipating some of the lowest prices of combustibles in year next month, which may cushion the blow of the hike fuel levy.

The Central Energy Fund (CEF) whose data is used by the Department of Mineral Resources to set the fuel prices in the country forecast that diesel was set to see a huge drop in price next month, of around 61 cents per litre, while both grades of petrol would see price decreases as well in June – between 25c and 30c per litre.

We’ll have to wait for the first week of June 2025 to see what the official price of petrol and other fuels is. But with the proposed increase, it likely won’t be the celebration it would have been just a few hours ago.