Evans Chamberlain Asset Management - UK Consumers Spend Less in April Q2
Evans Chamberlain Asset Management - British shoppers continue to spend less on discretionary items.
TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan, July 26, 2018 (Newswire.com) - Consumer spending in the UK decreased even further in April according to a leading payment card company. Analysts at Evans Chamberlain Asset Management say this is yet another indication that the British economy is battling to recover from very poor growth in the first quarter of this year.
According to the credit card payments company, spending on credit and debit cards was 2 percent lower in April than at the same time last year, and this was the case for the second consecutive month making it one of the sharpest drops from March to April since 2013.
Evans Chamberlain Asset Management analysts say that during the period from January to March, the decline in spending accelerated when compared with the 3 months prior to that. In the final quarter of last year, consumer spending on debit and credit cards fell by 1.3 percent on a yearly basis, and in the first quarter of 2018, it was down 1.6 percent on an annual basis.
Evans Chamberlain Asset Management says weakened confidence among British consumers combined with a less than optimistic outlook for the UK’s economy is the likely cause of this ongoing cautious trend among UK shoppers.
According to the data, spending on items including furniture, electrical appliances, and leisure activities suffered the most.
While the Bank of England said recently that the economic slowdown in the first quarter was likely temporary and attributed it to unseasonably snowy weather in March, Evans Chamberlain Asset Management analysts have cautioned that the decline in consumer spending and a softer property market could point to a more persistent economic slowdown.
Source: Evans Chamberlain Asset Management