The Automobile Association says South Africans can expect another round of record fuel price increases in April, delivering yet another blow to already embattled consumers.

Commenting on mid-month fuel data released by the Central Energy Fund, the AA says the current data is projecting fuel prices to touch on R24/l for petrol and R23.60 for diesel.

This means petrol and diesel could increase by over R2 per liter.

95 octane petrol is set to increase by R2.15/l, 93 octane is expected to climb by R2.07/l, diesel by between R2.94/l and R3.08/l and illuminating paraffin by R2.51/l.

The main driver is the movement in international oil prices which have soared to record levels in recent weeks because of the conflict in Ukraine.

Based on the current data, the increase to oil prices is contributing 98% to the predicted price hikes, with the Rand – which stabilised around R15.11 to the US dollar, contributing the other two percent.

Effectively, though, the Rand’s value against the US dollar is having a nominal impact on the price of fuel locally.