Reserve Bank payments data show there has not been any slowdown in consumer spending since interest rates started to rise in May, with purchases on credit and debit cards, and cash withdrawals from ATMs at or near year-high levels in June.

Purchases on debit cards were worth A$41.8 billion in June, compared with $42.3 billion the previous month and $39.3 billion the month before that. The debit card data series is a little more volatile, but June’s spending was the fourth highest recorded over the past year.

Purchases on personal credit and charge cards were worth $24.9 billion in June, a little above the previous month and the highest monthly card spend since November last year.

Consumers have increased their spending on credit and charge cards without any increase in balances accruing interest. Total balances have stayed a little above $32 billion for the past five months and balances accruing interest have also been steady at a little over $17 billion all year.

Over the past few years, consumers have been steadily reducing balances accruing interest but that trend has stopped this year.

Cash, which faced an existential threat at the onset of COVID because of concerned around physical contact, has also held up.

The value of cash withdrawals from ATMs using debit cards was $8.2 billion in June, roughly in line with the value of cash withdrawals in the three previous months and higher than January and February.

Cash withdrawals from ATMs fell from a pre-pandemic average of $10 to $11 billion a month to a low of $7.1 billion in April 2020. It has recovered since then but the data suggest some consumers have switched to card-only payments.