Although the recent fuel levy reduction is welcome and will soften the blow for consumers, it is simply not enough to balance the pain when paying for fuel, and the indirect impact of increased transport costs on goods. South African consumers have been struggling with consistent petrol price hikes since January 2021, when they paid only R14.99 for 95 octane petrol. As of Wednesday they are paying R21.96, which is a massive increase of 46.
“South Africans had to dig deep over the past year to survive the constant price hikes in fuel and manage the repercussions on their lives. It is simply no longer sustainable. The latest price increase will surely drop them even deeper into an abyss that they cannot crawl out of,” says Neil Roets, CEO of Debt Rescue.
Although he welcomes any move by government to rescue consumers, he says it may be too little too late as government cannot save consumers who have been hit with consistent petrol price hikes for over a year.The consequences of increases