Fuel price hike: Don't expect too much from government says economist

"I don't think that given the spending commitments that Treasury has it will be giving relief on fuel levies. There are a lot of expenditure commitments which it struggles to get away with without increasing the debt to GDP ratio," said Loos.

As for the Road Accident Fund, which is also increasing on the 1^st of April, should we be reforming it?

"Certainly reforming on the Road Accident Fund's ability to deliver on the claims - that would be desirable. But in terms of perhaps abolishing the Road Accident Fund, well that's a different debate. There are certain good arguments for some sort of cover for a road accident situation."

Loos said it would in any case require a change in the legislation and policies. "So, I don't see that as a potential measure which you can just unilaterally decide overnight that we're going to cut that and provide fuel relief."

He added that it is very difficult in the short term to see meaningful policy change to provide relief "so it is just really about tightening the belt. And I appreciate that various people are more able to do that than others. It's not an equal situation which the country finds itself in at the moment.

"What I think we will see is many households cutting those non-essential, low frequency purchases. Putting them on hold. So, we'll see a slow down in expenditure on durable consumer goods. We may even see some slow down in home purchasing.