Consumer confidence falls as petrol prices rise

Rising petrol prices have seen consumer sentiment hit a 16 year low. Consumer sentiment, in July, is at 79 points; a drop of 6.7 percent from June, according to the monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey.

“The most probable explanation for the sharp fall in the index is likely to be petrol and oil prices,” says Bill Evans, Westpac chief economist. “Average petrol prices rose by 3.4 percent since the last survey to be up 15.3 percent over the last three months. Crude oil prices were reported to have increased by 11.5 percent since the last survey.”