Australian demand for cash – as measured by ATM withdrawals - has stabilised in 2023 despite a slight dip in August, according to the latest official data.
The Reserve Bank’s retail payments statistics show the amount of cash withdrawn from automated tellers fell by A$200 million in August to $8.6 billion compared to July.
The August reading is the lowest monthly reading for ATM transaction activity so far this year, with the monthly average coming in at slightly above $8.7 billion.
While the long-term shift to card and digital payments is well documented, in the last 18 months there has been a recovery in cash usage.
The value of ATM withdrawals touched a record low in April 2020 when it plummeted to $6.37 billion.
Since then, the average amount of cash pulled from ATMs each month has mostly risen.
However, cash usage has not returned to pre-pandemic levels of 2019 when the average monthly value of ATM withdrawals was topping $10.5 billion.
The most recent data published by AusPayNet shows that the national fleet of active automated teller machines contracted to its lowest size in June since January 2006.
There were 24,695 machines operating across Australia in June when $8.72 billion of withdrawals were recorded.
In January 2006 Australia had 23,967 active ATMs when $11.4 billion was withdrawn by debit cardholders.
The 2006 RBA dataset did not capture the value of cash withdrawals made at ATMs using credit and charge cards.