Consumer confidence jumps in August
UK consumer confidence has increased in August as people appear to adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the ongoing Brexit negotiations.
GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index rose by three points to -7 in the month.
Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said: “Consumers are no doubt aware of the incessant Brexit noise, the core debate about whether ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’, the accompanying threats, warnings and uncertainties, the wild hopes and dark fears, and the daily ups and downs. But are consumers putting their hands over their ears and quietly saying: let’s just wait-and-see?”
GfK’s measure for the forecast for personal finances over the next 12 months rose by one point to 8 in August while the measure for expectations for the general economic situation in the same period stayed level with last month a -26.
In good news for retailers, the major purchase index increased by eight points to 6, which is six points higher than in August last year.
Staton added: “We are just months away from the Brexit crunch but there is no sign (yet) of any crash in consumer confidence. Yes, the core index continues to muddle along in negative territory, but Armageddon seems a distant prospect. With this month’s jump to -7, we have four of the constituent scores up and one unchanged. And we are well above the worrying -39 we saw in July 2008.”
