Not too long ago the price of fuel went up to new record highs in South Africa and now chances are we may have another fuel price hike next month. It really is just a question of by how much and not if it is going to happen or not. The Department of Minerals and Energy announced last month that it would impose a minimum increase of 25 cents a litre but some economists predict that the increase could be by as much as 50 cents a litre.

If fuel is to go up by as much as 50 cents a litre, we could be seeing the price of petrol rising to about R9.50 a litre and diesel being R10 a litre. This hike will come off the back of ever rising world oil prices. This week, oil prices almost reached $120 dollars a barrel. As long as world oil prices continue to rise, we in South Africa will continue to pay high prices for fuel.
Rising fuels prices will ultimately mean that the prices of food and other commodities will also rise resulting in inflation also rising. It seems like a never ending cycle. This may see the Reserve Bank having to increase interest rates again in order to try fight this rising inflation.

Gone are the days we paid close to R3 for a litre of petrol and could arrive at a garage with R200 and fill up your tank. Now R200 may only get you 20 litres. What can we do to ease the pain of rising fuel prices? For starters it may be a good idea to start driving smaller cars which do not consume as much fuel. People could also start using lift clubs. Those who can, should start to use public transport where possible. This all sounds easy to do on paper but in reality for people to change from the mode of transport they were used to is not easy. But the hard times are hitting and they are hitting hard and times for a change have arrived.

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