[imagesource: Gallo Images / OJ Koloti]

Moaning about the price of petrol is the sort of thing your parents do on Facebook using low-res screenshots of screenshots.

Oh, look, in the time I wrote that the price went up another 25 cents. We are well past the R20 a litre mark already. Astounding.

Even if you don’t drive you’ll feel the pinch of the petrol price going up, because that cost is passed down the chain in every business until it hits the consumer.

I’m not going to moan about a rand here and a rand there. What I will have a good whinge about is the current worst-case scenario being talked up, with dire predictions that the invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that go with it could drive the price up to R40 a litre.

City Press reports:

The ongoing war sent oil prices to more than $114 (R1 710) a barrel on Friday. By Thursday, the under-recovery on the fuel price was about R2.10/litre, which meant that fuel could become a further R2/litre more expensive next month, following this week’s R1.46/litre price hike at the pumps.

André Thomashausen, emeritus professor of international law at Unisa, said that, in a worst-case scenario, South Africans could expect to pay about R40 for a litre of fuel.

Let’s stress once more that this is the worst-case scenario.

Thomashausen says that gas prices across the EU could increase “tenfold”. This would lead to a price explosion across other energy sources, with liquid fuel in the firing line.

Sanctions against Russia are necessary in order to put pressure on Vladimir Putin. Global consumers may be willing to be out of pocket here and there in order to help bring an end to the Ukraine invasion, but head anywhere near R40 for a litre of petrol and the tide may turn here in South Africa.

It doesn’t help that the ANC has basically come out in support of Russia. How genuinely embarrassing is this exchange?

Sorry, but we can’t stay silent on this one, it’s just far too cynical. What 🇷🇺 is doing in 🇺🇦 is slaughtering innocent children, women and men for its own gain. It’s definitely not “fighting Nazism”. Shame on anyone who’s falling for this. (Sadly, we’re kinda experts on Nazism.)

— Germany in SA (@GermanEmbassySA) March 5, 2022

You can tell this is bollocks because if they were actually being sent letters they would only arrive about three months from now.

More from Thomashausen via The Citizen:

If this [R40 a litre] happens, it could severely hinder South Africa’s post-Covid-19 economic recovery and have a “devastating effect on all the parameters of the current budget”.

Several of South Africa’s largest sectors would be affected – from farming and agriculture to a spike in transport and food prices.

That’s how it starts.

First, it’s R40 a litre and next thing you know it’s R120 an avocado. Not cool.

I would like to offer one disclaimer. Thomashausen’s quotes originally come from IOL, which is doing its utmost to push pro-Russian talking points. Perhaps the R40 a litre quote is fearmongering but there’s no denying that what’s happening in Ukraine will eventually hit our pockets hard.

We are still a long way off from that R40 mark. No need to rush to the pumps this evening to fill up.

Something to keep an eye on, though.

[sources:citypress&citizen]