Consumer confidence falls in April
In a bitter blow for the UK economy the GfK NOP Consumer Confidence Index dropped by one point in April to -16. This is a reflection of the regular survey carried out amongst UK consumers to find out about their confidence in both their personal financial situations and the UK economy as a whole. Even though the figure of -16 is a vast improvement on the -27 figure from April 2009, many experts had automatically assumed that UK consumer confidence was on the rise.
The truth is that without UK consumer confidence we are unlikely to see a well based and strong recovery in the UK economy. At the end of the day, it is consumer confidence in the economy, the government and their own specific situations which will lead them to decide whether to spend money or cut back. The UK economy is bizarre at the moment because we have seen improvements in UK consumer confidence when the economy was moving down and now the economy is said to be improving, yet again we see an about turn in consumer confidence.
It may well be that the ongoing election campaign is impacting upon the thoughts and hopes of many consumers in the UK because ultimately no matter which party or parties are left in control of the UK after the election, tax rises and public-sector investment cuts are on the way.
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