Price of petrol + Big Mac + Bank interest rate in Australia January 2026

Welcome to my updated monthly report on key financial figures for Australia. I am doing this to keep historical notes through my life. These figures reported are what I see at the various places and an aggregate.

The price of petrol I paid during January 2026 probably averaged $1.70 for unleaded 91 Octane. Add up to 15c for 95 or 25c for 98.  It’s relative of course due to fluctuation. The 1st week was 2.20 dropping to 1.60 in the last week of the month. 

The price of diesel was around $1.90 the last time time looked and this the price does not fluctuate much compared to unleaded. Adblue was priced at about $1.90 per litre.

Following the developments during January in the US market regarding tariffs : Although Tariffs are no longer news worthy in that there are now other distractions like Iran and Venezuela chewing up resources and air time. Even on going Ukraine war has largely in the background. All of it is making life uncertain for the rest of us even those in business as prices and inflation continue to rise. 

The price of a Big Mac in January 2026 now averages $8.40. The price for the burger alone does vary from store to store based on location! This time it was the usual shopping centre location. The medium sized meal deal which included fries and a drink costs about $13.55 and the large option was $14.45 as per my monthly visit. As always this is not a fixed price as McDonald’s has a very active app and promotional pricing and freebie schedule.

The RBA – Reverse Bank of Australia the country’s central bank kept interest rates at 3.65 % 
The variable home loan interest rate range in January 2026 in Australia was : 4.5% – 9.5%
The saving interest rate range in January 2026 in Australia was : 0 – 5%
Note that the rates often come with conditions or short term promotion periods – very naughty. 

Note that fuel prices also vary according to area, the level of competition and a whole heap of other factors like shopping discounts, wars, world wide economics and so forth, however unreasonable high prices (relative to crude oil prices) is greed. Also note that the Octane level I post here represents Australian measurement which is different from those in other countries eg. US.

Apart from the actual prices I paid at the servo the websites I use to research the crude oil pricing are:

Australian Institute of Petroleum (Note that they AIP represents the oil companies.)
Index Mundi (Seems independent)