The Motor Industry Staff Association (Misa) has warned its nearly 53 000 members that the next few weeks will require South Africans to dig deep into their pockets and save money where they can.

South Africa’s economy has hit a double whammy with the recent steep fuel price increase, says economist Dr Roelof Botha.

Not only will everyone have to pay more to fill up their tanks, everything in the value chain will also become more expensive in the next few weeks.

“The reality is that families will struggle with less money in their budgets to spend.”

Misa operations CEO Martlé Keyter notes that the fuel price increase will also have a negative impact on the thus-far positive new-vehicle sale predictions for 2022.

“These predictions will be impacted by how long the war between Russia and Ukraine lasts,” says Keyter.

If it is only a few weeks, we will see the fuel price dropping. If the situation drags on for months, it will have a devastating impact on the cash flow of individuals and on vehicle sales,” says Keyter.

The oil price has rocketed after Russia invaded Ukraine earlier in March, with Russia one of the world's largest producers of oil and natural gas.

Botha says the impact would have been much worse if the rand had not showed positive movement against the US currency in recent weeks.

Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy director Dr Ferdi Meyer says the rise in the price of diesel impacts on every aspect of the input cost of the farmer, from the machinery used to plant, the price of fertiliser (which has doubled over the past year), to transportation.

“Road transport is used for most goods, making it even more expensive. The impact would have been less severe if South Africa had a proper functional railway service making transport much cheaper,” says Meyer.

According to Meyer more than a third of South African households spend between 40% and 50% of their monthly income on food.

The price of wheat increased by 8.43% since the beginning of 2022.

Russia and Ukraine account for 35% of the world’s wheat exports.

“There is no room for cutting corners. Families will have to manage their budgets very effectively to muster the storm,” says Meyer.