Consumers rejoice – sliding oil prices could save you cash at the checkout, as well as the bowser.

Oil prices have more than halved in recent months, spiralling to five-year lows mainly due to increased supply.

Motorists have already been enjoying the perks at the bowser, with petrol prices falling under $1-a-litre in some areas.

But the savings could be passed through to food and other goods as lower fuel bills slash transportation costs for businesses, St George senior economist Janu Chan says.

“Overall, there should be lower prices for us,” Ms Chan said.

“Petrol is the obvious one, but you hopefully should see a flow through to other goods.”

With consumer confidence currently in the doldrums, businesses may be more inclined to pass those savings on to their customers.

And if people are saving money on the cost of fuel and other goods, they’ve got more cash to splash, which is good news for businesses as well as consumers.

But not everyone stands to benefit, Ms Chan said.

Lower oil prices could mean downward pressure on prices for other commodities like coal and LNG, which Australia exports.

“It’s not good news for everyone but it’s going to be good news for consumers and there should be a slight net benefit for the economy as a whole,” Ms Chan said.

The lower Australian dollar does, however, offset the impact of the lower oil price, she said.

“We’re a net importer of oil, of fuel, so even though the prices have fallen, in Australian dollar terms, we need to pay more for it,” she said.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said the six per cent fall in petrol prices in late 2014 could push annual headline inflation to 1.8 per cent – below the Reserve Bank’s target band for the first time since 2012.

That was when banana prices started to come down after massive price rises in the wake of Cyclone Yasi.

“The RBA looked through the banana effect in its policy deliberations at the time and we would expect them to treat the current petrol episode the same way,” Mr Blythe said.

December quarter inflation figures will be released later this month.