'Consumers in for hard times'

An economist is estimating that the average South African household will fork out an extra R450 a month to make ends meet. Petrol and electricity tariff increases kick in this month. Francois Stofberg says smokers can expect to add an additional R26 to this figure. Petrol is set to go up by between 86 and 88 cents a litre depending on the grade while diesel increases by 96 and 98 cents a litre. Stofberg says consumers are in for hard times recommending people try and save as much money as possible.