South Africans are expected to pay much more to service their debt such as home and car loans.

Privately managed institution, the Reserve Bank, held its monetary policy committee meeting today where five members presided over a decision that will risk entrenching millions of South Africans into further poverty.

The hike comes at a time when inflation has jumped in recent months with food, fuel and transport costs bearing down on the working class.

Analysts however are finding it difficult to justify how increasing interest rates will suppress consumer demands and control runaway inflation.

In the meantime, South African households are now – more than ever – encouraged to spend money wisely and guard against further increases in the price of food and fuel.

The Rand against the Dollar continues to weaken against the backdrop of soaring global inflation.

Shocks to the market in the US has left Rand performing increasingly weaker, having breached the R17 mark.

This means that the purchase of key commodities such as oil could bring further volatility to the importation of fuel, spiking petrol prices even further.

Western markets are all performing poorly with currencies from developing countries at greater risk.

The development comes as South Africa is experiencing big inflationary spikes with the cost of living expected to further burden households.