Tag: fuel price

There has been a noticeable shift in global trade. While it might feel distant, it is already knocking on South Africa’s door. Tariffs are climbing again, fast and hard. Our research shows that the average US tariff rate has risen from around 2.4 percent at the end of 2024 to 29 percent today. That is the highest level in over a century.

One of the outcomes of the latest issue to swap the world – low growth, high interest rates and the threats of recessions – which will remain a driver for the growth of new ways of working and alternative business models for many years to come, is the increasing development of the side gig economy.

Consumers in South Africa are under immense pressure with a cascade of bad news resulting in increased prices at the till. Producer Price Inflation continues to rise, with the latest figures showing an increase from August’s 4.3% to 5.1% in September: things are going to keep becoming more expensive following higher fuel prices, a high lending rate to try to keep inflation in check and a weak, volatile Rand. Despite this, retailers have to sell goods and consumers need to buy goods.

While many factors indicated the possibility of a rate hike, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB)’s decision to hold their key lending rate provides some relief after a challenging year.

South Africans are navigating a protracted period of high interest rates, food and fuel prices, and low economic growth, which is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. The economic environment makes attracting new customers more difficult, forcing businesses to focus on customer retention and growing wallet share.

As the year draws to a close, the festive season emerges as a pivotal juncture for both South African businesses and consumers, laden with anticipation and opportunity. With South African consumers facing financial hardships in the form of multiple interest rate hikes and fuel price increases, research indicates that South Africans are still projected to spend over R200 billion this festive season

Amidst the rising cost of living, interest rate and fuel price hikes, and load shedding, the elephant in the room remains persistently high rates of unemployment. Much fanfare tends to surround any announcement of a small decline in the quarterly unemployment rate as it did at the end of November 2022 when Statistics South Africa revealed that the official unemployment figure had decreased by one percentage point between the second and third quarters of 2022 from 33.9% to 32.9%.

Business travel is back with a bang – at least in South Africa – with business travel numbers exceeding 2019 levels. This according to a recent whitepaper, SME Travel Trends for 2023, that indicates that demand has returned a lot quicker and more aggressively than initially anticipated.

Saving money is all about sticking to very strict budgets, sweating while crunching numbers, and skipping out on fun to get serious about your finances, right? Well, according to South Africans it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Savings goals don’t have to equate to life becoming all work and no play. 

South Africa’s franchise sector has shown tremendous resilience, first withstanding the heaviest effects from economic lens of the COVID-19 pandemic, secondly, looking at how global economies, suffered from the knock-on effect of the Russian war in the Ukraine.