With a catastrophic, record-setting fuel increase on the cards from tomorrow (6 May), South Africans are about to feel this fuel increase far beyond the forecourt. When you’re looking at petrol rising by over R3 a litre and diesel over R6 in May, it doesn’t just hit your tank; it feeds directly into the cost of food, transport and almost every essential in your monthly budget.
We’ve seen this pattern before: fuel goes up, inflation follows, and households that were already stretched suddenly find themselves under real pressure. The risk now is that many consumers try to ‘bridge the gap’ with credit, and that’s where the real danger lies.
Just because you qualify for credit doesn’t mean you can afford it. There’s a big difference between what a lender says you can take on, and what your budget can actually sustain when conditions tighten. Too many people build their finances around a ‘good month’ scenario, and when costs…
