U.K. Consumer Credit Slows in November

U.K. consumer credit growth was below expectations in November 2017, new figures from the Bank of England show, a sign that British shoppers grew more cautious about relying on unsecured borrowing to sustain their spending habits amid accelerating inflation and the rising cost of credit.

Net of repayments, consumer credit increased by 1.4 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) in November, unchanged from the previous month but GBP200 million less than forecast by analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal. This was only 9.1% higher than in November 2016, the slowest pace of annual growth in nearly two years.

Spurred by the pound's steep depreciation in the wake of the Brexit vote last year, inflation has accelerated significantly above the BOE target in recent months, prompting policymakers to increase the benchmark interest rate for the first time in a decade.

Write to Wiktor Szary at wiktor.szary@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 04, 2018 05:27 ET (10:27 GMT)