New UK card-purchase data shows 35% drop in consumer spending

Spending on credit and debit cards was 4% higher than in February, the last month before the pandemic struck. The Bank of England released its figures from its payment systems to the statistics office to provide more up-to-date information on how the pandemic is affecting the economy.

UK card purchases were 35% below pre-pandemic levels in the second week of January, according to data made public for the first time by the Office for National Statistics.

Retail footfall was a third of the year-earlier period last week. The proportion of the workforce on furlough leave in which the government subsidizes their wages rose 2 points to 16% in the period to January 10. (Representative Image) (REUTERS)

Spending on credit and debit cards was 4% higher than in February, the last month before the pandemic struck. The Bank of England released its figures from its payment systems to the statistics office to provide more up-to-date information on how the pandemic is affecting the economy.

The result gives a taste of the scale of the slump in consumer spending after the government tightened lockdowns to control the coronavirus, raising the risk of a double-dip contraction in the first quarter after the deepest recession in centuries. The ONS will publish retail sales figures on Friday for the month of December, when shops were open for two weeks during a brief loosening of restrictions.

Retail footfall was a third of the year-earlier period last week. The proportion of the workforce on furlough leave in which the government subsidizes their wages rose 2 points to 16% in the period to January 10.

Some 3% of firms had permanently shut down between December 28 and January 10. Of those still trading, more than a quarter said turnover had fallen by at least a fifth compared to normal levels for this time of year.

Still, BOE Governor Andrew Bailey said Wednesday that the economy is adapting to the restrictions and that lockdowns don’t seem to have as big an impact as they did earlier.