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Consumer confidence crumbles
09/03/2006 17:54:00
British consumer confidence is spiralling to new lows, it has been claimed.
The Nationwide consumer confidence index for February saw retail sales reach their lowest point for four months, dropping by four points to 94 points, close to the index's record low of 92.
The trend of falling confidence, which has seen drops for nine of the past 12 months, was attributed to concerns about employment figures, the economy, fuel prices and council tax rises.
Stuart Bernau, Nationwide's executive director, said on Channel 4's News At Noon programme: "All of those things are playing on their confidence and they are being fed that information all the time through the media and that's what's really brought confidence down to quite a low level."
A recent survey showed that pedestrian levels in UK shopping centres also continued to drop in February, falling by eight per cent in the last year.
The Bank of England's monetary policy committee declined to respond to the latest figures with a cut in interest rates and is expected to delay such a move until the late spring or early summer.
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