Picture: courtesy of Campaign
British consumers tightened their belts in February, giving the weakest start to the year since 2012, figures from payments company Visa showed on Monday, raising the prospects that the broader economy will slow in the first quarter of 2018.
Visa said inflation-adjusted consumer spending in February was 1.1% lower than a year earlier, after a 1.2% decline in January.
“Rising living costs, lacklustre wage growth and relatively subdued consumer confidence are all likely playing a part in the ongoing reduction in household spending,” said Annabel Fiddes, an economist at IHS Markit, which compiled the data for Visa.
British inflation hit a 5 year high in November, pushed up by a surge in import costs after the pound tumbled following June 2016’s Brexit vote. During the course of last year, Britain moved from being the fastest-growing major advanced economy to the slowest as consumer spending slowed and businesses held back on investment while the terms of Britain’s departure from the European Union in March 2019 remain unclear.
