South African consumers owe nearly R1.5 trillion in debt

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Debt Rescue CEO Neil Roets says consumer debt will remain high despite the upcoming drop in fuel prices.

Roets says the drop in the retail price of petrol by 45 cents a litre on Wednesday will bring welcome relief to deeply indebted South Africans, but that the overall indebtedness of consumers remains a problem.

He said South African consumers owed R1.44 trillion, leading many to seek the help of debt counselors.

Roets said consumers should not use the drop in fuel prices to accrue more debt because should the rand weaken, the price of fuel would increase again.

He added that the 60 cents a litre reduction in the diesel price was actually more significant because most goods in the country are delivered by road transportation and if retailers play fair, this could result in slightly lower food prices.