Petrol prices were up across the country this week with Perth residents are being hit hardest at the bowser, reports say fuel prices in WA reached a record high this week.

The FuelWatch group say prices should stabilise after the record-breaking peak of 160.0 cents per litre. FuelWatch also says the increase this week was driven by high international prices and the weak Australian dollar.

FuelWatch manager Lynne Gould says prices, “may stabilise in the short term, we've seen that international prices have decreased about eight per cent in the last week so that should see a steadying of prices in Perth.”

The petrol price monitoring group says motorists only need to look around for better prices than the average, or fuel up outside metropolitan areas, prices have been reported up to 15 cents cheaper at over 30 outlets.

This is not the first time the average fuel price in Perth has breached $1.60 per litre, the previous record occurred in July 2008.