Hard-to-miss petrol pricing a 'proxy' for inflation

Prices of certain goods, like petrol, could be a proxy for what's happening across the economy. (Flavio Brancaleone/AAP PHOTOS)

Motorists are paying less to fill up at the petrol pump and that hasn't gone unnoticed, weighing on expectations for inflation and making the Reserve Bank of Australia's job a little easier.

The central bank's chief economist, Sarah Hunter, says inflation expectations remained anchored throughout the latest period of consumer price growth, in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.