High cost-of-living forces South Africans to use debt for daily expenses

South African short-term lender Wonga says its new study indicates that the number of South Africans borrowing from informal lenders has more than doubled from the 15 percent it recorded in a similar survey in 2025.

The study shows how the cost-of-living crisis is increasingly forcing consumers to access dangerous, illegal lenders – often to pay for daily essentials.

Matshidiso Lencoasa, public finance analyst and member of the Budget Justice Coalition as we look at the issue of cost-of-living in SA that has reportedly seen many turn to informal lenders for survival.


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