Consumer confidence down two points in June
Consumer confidence in the UK has fallen in June as consumers feel less optimistic about the economy in the run-up to Brexit.
GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index decreased by two points to -9 in the month following a decline across all the measures used in compiling the index.
Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said: “The overall index score has now registered at zero or negative for 30 months. Contrast that with 2015 – when there was a full year of positive numbers. The trend since those 2015 figures has been resolutely downwards and it’s difficult to see the direction changing in the run-up to the UK leaving the European Union in March 2019.”
The measure for expectations for the general economic situation over the next 12 months decreased by four points to -25 in June while the measure for the forecast for personal finances over the same period dropped by two points to 6.
Meanwhile, the major purchase index fell by one point to 0, which is one point lower than June 2017.
Staton added: “There is little comfort in the one-point drop to zero in the major purchase index. Shoppers are holding on to their cash and consumers in general seem set on their path of self-imposed austerity.”
