Off the wire
• Progress made in South China Sea code of conduct consultations: spokesperson  • 1st LD: Two children killed in clashes in Egypt's Sinai  • NATO chief sees 2014 "black year"for European security  • Feature: Extreme poverty forces Afghan woman to sell her newborn baby  • Euro area unemployment rate hit 11.4 pct in Dec. 2014  • Honda slashes annual profit forecast on slumping sales, recall costs  • Paths to Australian Open women's final  • Euro area annual inflation down to minus 0.6 pct in January  • Podemos party plans huge rally in Spanish capital Madrid  • More than 10 mln Chinese overcome poverty in 2014  
You are here: 　 Home

British consumer confidence rises to nine-year high in Jan.

Xinhua, January 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

British main composite index of confidence rose from -4 (or minus four) in December 2014 to 1 in January 2015, matching last June and August's nine-year high, according to data released by GfK, a British market researcher, on Friday.

All five measures used to calculate the index saw increased in January, said GfK.

The indexes measuring changes in personal finances during the last 12 months and over the next 12 months both have increased four points to -2 and 5 respectively this month. The measures for the General Economic Situation of Britain during the past 12 months and over the 12 months have risen by five points and four points to -5 and -1. And the Major Purchase Index has increased six points to 5 over the same period.

Nick Moon, Managing Director of Social Research at GfK, said in a press release: "With less than 100 days before the (general) election, this big jump in the Index will be very welcome news for the government."

Maeve Johnston, UK Economist at Capital Economics, commented in a note that the strength of the composite index of consumer confidence suggests that consumers' spirits have been lifted by their stronger purchasing power, partly as a result of the collapse in the oil price.

The London-based economic forecaster believes that consumers' optimism should provide further support to the recovery in spending over the medium term, with expectation of a three percent growth of Britain's real household spending in 2015. Endit