Christmas Gloom Mounts With Warning Britons Are Scared to Spend

UK households are hoarding cash rather than spending it because the shocks of the past five years have left them feeling financially insecure, a former Bank of England rate-setter warned, adding to a growing sense of gloom in the run-up to Christmas.

In a paper examining the sharp increase in saving rates since before the pandemic, Michael Saunders, a senior advisor at Oxford Economics, said Britons are squirrelling away more of their income because they don’t believe they have enough for emergencies. Higher interest rates that make saving more attractive are also a factor.