The petrol price has just dropped by 63c across South Africa, leading to mass celebrations in the street, as if we’ve just won the soccer World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and found a new president on the same day. Well, not entirely, but we imagine people are smiling a little more on the way to work today.
At R13.66, petrol per litre still remains very expensive. In a graph we published last year, the South African petrol price has risen to over R14 from R4,31 per litre in 2004.
But, it could always be worse. In a massive study published in June this year, Bloomberg looked at the petrol price around the world, and the affordability relative to the average earnings of 61 countries. It makes for incredible reading. Here are the highlights.
Most expensive: Norway
At R27.37 per litre, Norwegians are understandably very into public transport and bicycles. And canoes. Anything that doesn’t burn petrol really. However, the country doesn’t subsidise fuel at the pumps, instead it uses the profits to provide nice things like free university education. Norway also has zero national debt, due mainly to oil profits. Seems sensible.
Least expensive – Venezuela
11 cents a litre. Yes, R0.11 per litre. Eleven cents. I can scarcely wrap my head around that; its vastly cheaper than water, which makes me think that everyone in any other country is being screwed. At that price, filling a Mercedes Benz with a 70 litre tank would cost just R7.70, or around half the price of a Wimpy famous coffee.
Land of petrolheads – Germany
The country responsible for some of the most prolific, most successful, fastest and luxurious cars on the years makes it tough to be a petrol head. At R23.77 a litre, Germany is the 8th most expensive country in the world to buy fuel. But they have limit-free Autobahns, and the Nurburgring. German teenagers grow their own food indoors to help them afford petrol. I completely made that up.
Cold, grey and expensive – The UK
Fancy popping over to the British isles to earn some of those much-sought after Pounds? You’ll be glad to know that they have an excellent public transport system, because at R23.06, Britain is one of the world’s most expensive countries in which to buy fuel. However, although the UK is not far behind Germany in terms of price, in terms of affordability, the UK is very closely matched to South Africa.
Far East – Japan
Another nation known for it’s extensive motorcar production, Japan makes things a bit easier on motorists. At R16.33 per litre, Japan runs one of the cleanest car fleets in the world, penalising owners with a green tax that increases every year that your car ages. But they can buy 102 octane fuel at the pumps, which is nice.
South Africa – 42nd
We’re in the top third of world petrol prices, just ahead Australia (R14.73) and Brazil (R14.96). But we rank terribly on the unaffordibilty scale, at 10th in the world. That means the average South African needs to spend over 7% of a day’s wages to buy one litre of fuel, compared to the US, where the average earner only needs to part with 0.65% of a day’s wages. Also, didn’t we figure out how to make this stuff a long time ago?
For the full list of petrol prices, visit Bloomberg’s brilliant interactive graphic here. For cars that are light on fuel, you’d better check out our list of the most fuel efficient cars in South Africa for 2014.
List of petrol prices around the world
Venezuela – R0.11
Saudi Arabia – R1.26
Kuwait – R2.26
Egypt – R2.28
Iran – R4.25
UAE – R4.95
Nigeria – R6.23
Malaysia – R6.77
Russia – R8.92
Mexico – R10.01
USA – R10.32
Indonesia – R10.43
Pakistan – R11.41
Columbia – R11.74
Thailand – R12.74
Philippines – R12.52
Canada – R12.58
China – R13.22
India – R13.39
South Africa – R13.89
