The only way is up for petrol price

I FELT sorry for the protesters in Durban on Monday: the People Against Petrol and Paraffin Price Increases (Pappi) could not have picked a worse day for their demonstration. It was the day the rand tumbled to around R15 to the US dollar.

It was ironic they were calling on the president to issue a moratorium that there will be no further increases on the petrol price. Wishful thinking. President Cyril Ramaphosa has so many other bigger problems – land expropriation, Eskom, Sars, SABC, etc.

Even if the dollar price of a barrel of crude remains steady until the end of the month – at about $73 a barrel – the spat alone between the US and Turkey that shook emerging markets and had a ripple effect across the globe, the continuing trade wars that the Trump administration instigated will see more turmoil in the markets worldwide.

And with the self-inflicted ills due to the mismanagement of the economy, my prediction is we will have another increase come September. JM Bouvier