British households reduced non-essential spending last month due to rising fuel prices and uncertainty from the Iran war. According to Barclays’ consumer spending report, fuel spending rose 1.6% year-on-year, pushing essential spending up by 0.5%. However, non-essential spending growth slowed to 1.1%, with travel spending down 3.3% due to flight disruptions. Jack Meaning, chief UK economist at Barclays, said: “The Bank of England will need to consider how to balance this softening economy with the inflation already taking effect.” Overall card spending increased by 0.9% year-on-year in March.
