Petrol prices on the slide

The price of petrol has continued its freefall in the past week with the national
average price of unleaded dropping another two cents.
The pump price was now near an 11-month low of $1.19 a litre, fresh data from the
Australian Institute of Petroleum showed on Monday.
Over the past fortnight the price has plummeted five cents, the biggest decline in
almost two years.
The savings were largely the result of the continuing strength of the Australian
dollar, CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said in a market update on Monday.
"In fact the magical $1 a litre could appear on signboards this week especially
given the recent strength of the Australian dollar," Mr Sebastian said.
The dollar's strength against the US dollar is all important when studying petrol
prices because petrol is refined from oil and oil is traded globally in US dollars.
Drivers in South Australia are the biggest winner with the average price across the
state now sitting at $1.15 a litre, slightly in front of NSW and the ACT.
Only Hobart and Perth missed out on the drop.
Mr Sebastian predicted the price would fall more in the coming weeks.
"Overall CommSec expects the national average pump price to fall by 2-3 cents in the
next fortnight."



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