Survey: UK consumers panic at warnings from the new government

Jin10 data, September 20th, Friday, a survey released showed that after the new British Prime Minister Stamer warned that the British economy and public finances may increase taxes, British consumers became more pessimistic. The data shows that the GfK Consumer Confidence Index fell from -13 in August to a six-month low of -20 in September, the largest drop since April 2022. Neil Bellamy, director of consumer insights at GfK, said that families seemed to be responding to the message conveyed by Stamer, who said that painful budget cuts would need to be implemented by the end of next month and announced some initial cost-cutting measures. After the clear warning that winter fuel subsidies would be removed and that there would be more difficult decisions on taxation, expenditure, and welfare, consumers are anxiously awaiting the budget decision on October 30th. All five confidence indicators for this month have declined, with a 12-point drop in the outlook for the economy over the next year. Although inflation is stable and the Intrerest Rate may be further reduced, this is not encouraging news for the new British government.