Australians are still spending, but rising fuel and power bills are shifting patterns as the Middle East ceasefire resets expectations around how long the conflict may last.
9 April 2026
Australians have been scaling back spending on spending on travel, hospitality and home improvement as fuel and utilities eat a greater share of household budgets, new weekly spend data from Commonwealth Bank reveals.
They’re also spending significantly more on EV charging than at the same point in 2025, but it remains a very small share of wallet.
Credit & debit card data for the week to 4 April, showed broad resilience in Australians’ spending habits, Commonwealth Bank Head of Australian Economics Belinda Allen said.
But there was a small pullback in spending over the week, which included the Easter public holidays and a cut in fuel excise announced by the federal government.
More detailed data, which includes credit & debit card spending, BPAY, direct transfer and Buy Now Pay Later, is providing additional insights. “We’re starting to see households redirect their spending. With petrol and electricity bills up, people are spending less on eating and drinking out,” Allen said.
Holiday plans have also been affected. “As a share of wallet we have also seen some volatility in the travel spend category,” Allen said. “Initially spending lifted but it has fallen in recent weeks,” she said, saying much of the pull-back had come from spending on accommodation, although spending on airlines had also fallen compared to 2025.
On the other side of the ledger Australians were still seeing good income growth, based on the salaries that were being paid into CBA accounts, Allen said.
Meanwhile, the two-week ceasefire announced by Iran and the US on Wednesday could signal the conflict in Iran may end modestly earlier than previously expected, Commonwealth Bank Director of Geo-economics Madison Cartwright said.
The news prompted the bank’s economists to change their base case for the war lasting until May, rather than June.
The shift reflects a view that the ceasefire, together with the tentative reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, may mark the first credible step towards diplomacy since the conflict began, Cartwright said.
While the ceasefire does not end the war, it suggested the economic and strategic pressures on both sides may have reached a tipping point slightly earlier than expected, with Cartwright describing the development as a “significant but fragile step toward diplomacy”.
What will be critical for the global economy will be how many ships carrying oil, gas, fertiliser and other goods exit the Strait unharmed.
“The US' 15-point plan and Iran's 10-point plan are deeply incompatible. However, the ceasefire suggests tentative US openness to compromise,” Cartwright said.
“The path to peace is not assured,” Cartwright said, adding that it “represents the beginning of a potential end to the war not a resolution”.
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