LONDON (UK) – British consumers are their most confident ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic almost a year ago, strengthened by hopes that the country’s fast COVID-19 vaccinations programme will give a boost the economy, a survey showed on Friday.
The overall consumer confidence index from market research firm GfK increase five points to -23, due mostly to a 14-point improvement in views about the economy over the next 12 months.
Joe Staton, GfK’s client strategy director, gave warning that it was more realistic to analyse the challenges ahead than brood over making a return to normality.
“We need to be cautious because the positive tailwinds of the vaccination roll-out are being met by the very strong headwinds of unemployment, the threat of inflation and the difficulty that many face in affording day-to-day living costs,” he said.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announce more support to jobs in a budget plan on March 3.
Boris Johnson is moving with caution when it comes to lifting social distancing restrictions that led to the shrinking down of economy by 10% last year, the most in three centuries.
But Sunak is expected to start taking the economy off his nearly 300-billion-pound ($419 billion) emergency rescue programme at the earliest.
In February last year before the pandemic hit, GfK’s overall confidence index remained at -7.
GfK’s measure of willingness of consumers to make major purchases improved to -19, however, remained well below its level of +6 in February 2020.
The Bank of England is evaluating to see if households go on a spending spree when the current lockdown is taken off after a continuous period of savings while they were stuck at home.