UK households ‘spent 12% more on essentials in February than year earlier’
The Guardian says Inflation and rising bills mean UK households are spending 12% more on essentials than they were a year ago, with almost four in 10 people having to use credit cards to cover these costs, new data shows.
Two days after it emerged that the UK’s annual inflation rate unexpectedly jumped to 10.4% in February, Nationwide said its figures showed that consumers spent 34% more on utility bills and 17% more on mortgage payments last month than they did in February 2022.
The building society analysed 208m debit card, credit card and direct debit transactions made by its members in February, and said that despite the squeeze on finances, spending on some non-essential items such as holidays was continuing to grow, showing that people were looking to strike a balance between being careful and occasionally treating themselves.
