Pretoria — The petrol price is expected to drop below the R9 per litre mark at midnight on Tuesday.

According to the Department of Minerals and Energy, petrol is set to drop by 45 cents from R9.24 to R8.79 a litre.

This will be the fourth petrol drop in a row since August this year and will be welcomed by consumers who are have been straining to cope with increased food, fuel and energy prices - a situation exacerbated by the global economic crisis.

The wholesale price of diesel with 0.05 sulphur content will drop by 24 cents while diesel with sulphur content of 0.005 would decrease by 21 cents.

The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin is to drop by 39 cents a litre and the single maximum retail price for illuminating paraffin by 52 cents.

In August, the petrol price decreased by 27 cents a litre and in September it decreased by 69 cents. Prior to the decrease, the petrol price had reached the highest peak ever of R10 per litre.