UK consumer spending in January fell for first time in 5 years - Visa

UK consumers tightened the purse strings in January, highlighting many households’ caution about their finances and the approach of Brexit. 

Visa credit card figures show household spending fell by 1.2 percent year-on-year in January, with spending in shops down by 4 percent. Eight of the past nine months have now experienced a year-on-year fall in consumer spending, according to FT report. 

Reuters quotes Visa’s chief commercial officer, Mark Antipof as saying that, “consumer spending entered the new year on a downbeat note, falling for the eighth time in the past nine months, as Britons continued to cut back on spending,”