U.K. Consumer Spending Rises as Cost of Essential Items Climbs
BNP's Saywell Sees Too Much Optimism in Pound
This article is for subscribers only.
U.K. shoppers boosted spending in January as they paid more for essential purchases.
Consumer spending climbed 3.9 percent from a year earlier, Barclaycard said in a report on Tuesday, an increase driven by higher prices and supermarket purchases. In a separate survey, the British Retail Consortium also cited higher food prices as it reported a 0.6 percent increase in like-for-like retail sales last month.