THE national average petrol price rose by 4.3 cents per litre to a record 150.9 cents last week, the biggest weekly rise since December 2007, data shows.
The weekly petrol prices report from the Australian Institute of Petroleum shows the weekly average metropolitan price rose by 4.8 cents per litre to $1.50, and the regional average price rose by 3.2 cents to 152.6 cents.
Petrol prices hit fresh record highs across all states.
Commonwealth Securities economist Savanth Sebastian said the average household was now forking out almost $211 a month on petrol, up almost $42 over the past eight months.
"It`s not just motorists that are feeling the pain from the high prices," Mr Sebastian said.
"The sustained higher fuel prices are likely to be felt across the economy, having a lagging, yet adverse, effect on firms as well as consumers.
"The interest rate hikes earlier in the year have added to the stress on the household budget and such sharp rises in recent fuel prices are likely to see consumer spending slow even further."
He said the only good news for motorists was that the Australian dollar remained in strong demand, helping absorbing some of the pain being felt at the petrol pump.
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