UK consumer confidence falls in April

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
May 2, 2016

Consumer confidence in the UK was down three points to -3 in April, with all of the measures used to calculate the Consumer Confidence Index seeing decreases this month, GfK said.

Joe Staton, Head of Market Dynamics at GfK, says: “Mixed-messages about a post-Brexit world and the on-going Eurozone crisis are casting a cloud over our economy. After a continuous 15-month showing of positive numbers in the barometer, April 2016 sees the UK drop back into negative territory with a -3 score. The biggest dent to confidence comes from consumers’ depression about the general economic situation in the UK for the next year, dropping 20 points in 12 months. Against this backdrop, even faith in our personal economic fortunes has taken a battering contributing to the overall fall in the numbers. Trends in confidence show our degree of optimism about the state of the economy and this indicator will make for interesting reading between now and the EU referendum on June 23rd."

The index measuring changes in personal finances during the last 12 months has decreased by one point to +3, while the forecast for personal finances over the next 12 months has decreased by two points to +7 this month.

The measure for the General Economic Situation of the country during the last 12 months has decreased by four points this month to -14; this is 17 points lower than April 2015.

Earlier predictions from the EY Item Club, an economic forecasting group, say UK consumer spending is set to grow by 2.9% in 2016, but slow down to 2.1% in 2017.