Watch: SA Consumers under pressure as petrol price soars above the R23 mark

While some reprieve will be felt by diesel users for the month of May, petrol users on the other hand will be left scrambling once again to adjust their monthly budget after the official fuel prices were announced. Petrol prices have jumped from R22.64 a litre for 93 octane petrol and R22.97 for 95 octane petrol in April to R23.01 and R23.34 a litre, respectively. According to the Automobile Association (AA), the surge in international oil prices is the main driver contributing to the under-recovery in petrol, while the average rand/US dollar exchange rate during April actually provided some relief, without which the increases may well have been higher. Neil Roets, CEO of Debt Rescue, says that expecting consumers to dig even deeper in their pockets is simply unconscionable. “Embattled consumers are already struggling to put enough food on the table, let alone balance their monthly budgets, and another steep petrol price increase on the back of the 18.65% increase in electricity tariffs will sound the financial death knell for the majority of the country’s workforce,” he warns. While food prices in March this year were 14% higher than they were at the same time last year, most South Africans can expect their salaries to go up by less than half of that over the next 12 months, according to management platform Remchannel’s latest pay survey.