A perfect storm of sharply increasing prices for fuel, food and imports, and for administered goods and services, plus higher interest rates and drought, is sure to make 2014 an extremely tough year.
With effect from midnight last night, the price of petrol reached a record high - R13.96 a litre, as a direct result of the plummeting rand.
Motorists, particularly those in Gauteng who are already burdened with e-tolls - or drive longer distances to avoid them, and thus use far more fuel on dodgy secondary roads - will definitely feel the pinch.
The same goes for business owners whose operations depend on road transport. Expect the their cost increases to trickle down to the tills.
Retailers, who have been absorbing the pressure of rising costs for many months now, cannot do so indefinitely.
A knock-on effect of the drought last year in key maize-producing areas has resulted in a rapid rise in the cost of the staple. Poultry prices have risen sharply and the cost of red meat is likely to increase in coming weeks.
Key drivers of the depreciation of the rand - the US Federal Reserve's progressive slashing of its huge bond-buying programme, which favoured emerging markets, and the recovery of developed-world economies, which raises the spectre of higher interest rates - are beyond the control of consumers or the government.
But there is still a lot that we can do to protect our currency and help reinvigorate our sluggish economic growth.
Unions, which have launched a protracted strike on the platinum belt, simply have to moderate their wage demands and ensure that there is no further unrest on the mines.
Every day that the strike continues is costing South Africa precious foreign exchange - and an opportunity to narrow our yawning trade gap.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan should announce further steps when he presents his budget later this month to reassure international investors that South Africa really is open for business.
And embattled consumers will need to tighten their belts once again and avoid taking on more credit this year.
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