Proactive Investors - The UK GfK Consumer Confidence indicator rose to -19 in April 2024 from -21 in March, improving for the first time in three months and coming in above the -20 forecast.
It marks a vast improvement compared to last year when the overall index score stood at -30.
Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said: “Consumer confidence can be a very slow-moving creature and the past six months underline that.
At least there’s an air of forgiveness with consumers delivering softer verdicts on how they look back at the past year regarding their personal finances and the wider economy.”
The recovery in consumer confidence has stalled this year as markets delay Bank of England rate cuts.
But Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macro, took “encouragement from the GfK despite little change in the headline reading this year”.
“If real income growth continues, which we expect, consumers' confidence in their personal finances and their spending will keep trending up,” he said.
“But consumers remain reluctant to splash out on a major purchase until the Bank of England starts cutting interest rates. We still expect the MPC’s first cut in June, with two more following this year in September and December.