Australians are clinging to cash as usage rises despite fears that physical tender could cease to exists in the years to come.

New Reserve Bank survey data shows the key role cash still plays in society.

According to report author Kieran MacGibbon, more than a third of Australians surveyed said they would face hardship or major inconvenience if they could not use cash.

“Those who used cash more frequently for transactions were more likely to report that they would be adversely affected if cash was not readily accessible and accepted,” he said.

“Over 70 per cent of high cash users indicated that they would face major difficulties if they could no longer withdraw cash.”

Surprisingly, the survey data also showed cash usage was on the rise, as it lifted from 13 per cent of transactions in 2022 to 15 per cent in 2025.

Payments by value in the economy remains virtually unchanged at 8 per cent, thanks to Australians largely using cash for small in-person transactions.

This comes despite experts saying Australia would functionally be cashless by about 2030, as digital payments continue to take a larger share of the nation’s transactions.

This stabilisation of cash usage follows a dramatic fall during the Covid pandemic when cash usage slumped to its lowest levels on record as consumers switched to digital payments.

Despite the pick up in cash usage, it still remains the least often used of all payment types.

According to the RBA’s survey of 1200 Australians, about one in two consumers still make a cash payment in a typical week.

While Australians of all demographic groups regularly use cash, older Australians and low-income households have the highest cash usage.

Mr MacGibbon says cash still plays an important role in the Australia economy, particularly as a viable back-up to card payments.

“Many Australians still carry cash for unexpected transactions or in case electronic payments are not available,” the RBA report stated.

“The survey results highlight the important role of cash in an inclusive and resilient payments system.”

Cash users punished

The RBA has come out in support of cash just weeks after announcing it would ban pesky surcharges on card transactions.

At the end of March, the RBA released its long-awaited review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging.

As part of three key changes, the RBA says it’s removing surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards across eftpos, MasterCard and Visa networks.

Instead, businesses will be required to include the entire price – including any costs to issue the credit – as part of the sticker price.

Australians are slugged about $1.6bn in surcharge payments every year, while businesses pay $200m to card providers.

Cash Welcome founder Jason Bryce told NewsWire at the time that the RBA went a step too far by removing surcharges on both debit and credit card spending.

“I’m concerned cash users are going to end up paying for the frequent flyer points and the benefits that accrue to people using fancy credit cards,” he said.

“So who is losing? Ordinary bank account holders with a debit card, cash users, people budgeting and I can’t see how small businesses are going to like this at all.”

Mr Bryce said the announcement did not get rid of surcharging. Instead, it simply hid the fees businesses paid to card providers.