Visa: UK consumer spending suffers weakest start since 2012 - RTRS

The latest data from payments company Visa showed on Monday, the UK consumers scaled back their spendings in February, registering the weakest start to the year since 2012,

This indicates that the broader economy will likely slow in the first quarter of 2018.

Key Points:

Inflation-adjusted consumer spending in February was 1.1 percent lower than a year earlier, after a 1.2 percent decline in January.

Annabel Fiddes, an economist at IHS Markit, which compiled the data for Visa, “Rising living costs, lackluster wage growth, and relatively subdued consumer confidence are all likely playing a part in the ongoing reduction in household spending.”