UK card spending shows pre-Christmas pick-up, says government stat body
BRITISH consumer spending picked up in early December, in line with usual seasonal trends, as people spent more in the run-up to Christmas, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday (Dec 8).
Credit and debit card spending in the week ended Dec 1, which included Black Friday sales, was 13 percentage points higher than a week earlier, according to interbank payment data provided by the Bank of England (BoE) to the ONS.
However, when compared to last year, spending was flat. This reflected a sharp real-terms decline, given the high rate of inflation, which hit a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent in October.
Spending on commuting and other work-related expenses was up 16 percentage points from a year ago, while spending on socialising was 5 percentage points higher. However, spending on discretionary items, such as clothing and furniture, was down 10 percentage points.
The BoE data contrasted with debit card transaction data from card provider Revolut, also published by the ONS on Thursday. Revolut’s data showed a 17 percentage point year-on-year rise in spending, and a 4 percentage point week-on-week increase up to Dec 4.
The weekly increase in the Revolut data was driven by a 13-point rise in entertainment spending.
The ONS said that “consumer behaviour indicators mostly showed increased activity in the latest week, in line with expected pre-Christmas trends”.
Britain’s most recent official retail sales data, which are adjusted for inflation and the time of year, showed that sales volumes in October were 6.1 per cent lower than a year earlier. REUTERS
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