National Treasury and the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources have announced that the fuel tax relief will be extended, with additional relief for diesel.
This follows the R3.00 per litre relief announced in March, which provided limited short-term relief to households from rising fuel prices following the Middle East conflict.
However, since this announcement, the continuation of the Middle East conflict has resulted in consistent pressure on global oil prices which has led to increases in domestic fuel prices.
Because of this, the departments are now proposing to extend the relief by another month to 2 June 2026.
In addition, because of the large expected increases in the price of diesel, the temporary relief for diesel will be increased by 93 cents to R3.93 per litre, reducing the levy to zero until 2 June.
The general fuel levy for petrol will remain at R1.10 per litre and the general fuel levy for diesel will decrease from R0.93 per litre to R0.00 per litre.
The relief measure was designed to be fiscally neutral, and the government will implement mechanisms to recoup the foregone revenue within the fiscal framework approved during the 2026 Budget.
Because of this, from 1 July onwards, the general fuel levy for petrol will return to R4.10 per litre and
the general fuel levy for diesel will return to R3.93 per litre.
The estimated cost of the temporary fuel levy relief from April to June 2026 is R17.2 billion in foregone tax revenue.
The relief will be funded through a combination of higher-than-expected tax revenue and underspending and will not have an impact on the fiscal framework adopted by Parliament following the 2026 Budget.
The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has initiated a review of the formula whose conclusion will determine how fuel prices are regulated going forward.
Treasury said that it should also be noted that according to the Self Adjusting Slate mechanism, the under recovery of importers of petroleum products must also be accommodated.
As such the Slate levy on petrol and diesel will also be adjusted for the month of May.
