After two decades of declining cash use, Australians are handing over more banknotes and coins for regular purchases again, a new survey by the Reserve Bank has found.
The decline in the use of physical money had accelerated during the COVID pandemic, but bottomed out between 2022 and 2025.
Around 15% of payments in 2025 were made using cash. Cash is more likely to be used for small transactions, with a quarter of transactions below $10 paid in cash.
