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Britons avoid restaurants and bars while Omicron drives the recession

Expectations that consumer spending declines will lead to a slowdown in December and January have been fueled by declining restaurants and coffee consumption in the UK due to Omicron’s divergence.

The trend of frequent travel, inflation and credit card sales, published Thursday, shows “very little in the way of food in December,” said Andrew Goodwin, a UK economist at Oxford Economics, a consultant.

Although the government has delayed the decision to reinstate some restrictions until after Christmas, massive consumer engagement and a slowdown in travel could “ensure the UK’s GDP falls in December”, he added.

The seven-day average for UK diets dropped by 14 percent a week until December 20 – the lowest level since May – by 88 percent the same week in 2019, according to OpenTable data published by the Office for National Statistics.

In the second week of December, credit card and credit card spending dropped by 3 percent over the same period in 2020, down from a 30% annual increase in November.

Earlier this week, government statistics showed signs of economic normalization buyers return spending more on jobs and less money on the third phase.

However, frequently available data suggests that Omicron’s prevalence and fear of disease are contributing to “the most recent improvement in rate and GDP transformation,” says Sandra Horsfield, an economist at Investec.

At the same time, events at Pret A Manger, sandwiches, fell on six of the seven towns.

Gabriella Dickens, an economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, expects UK GDP to contract 0.6 per cent in December compared to last month and another 0.3 per cent in January, although no other restrictions have been imposed.

Reducing inflation is also similar to Omicron’s pull on Christmas sales. Data from the Springboard marketing agency, published by the ONS, shows that in the week to December 18 the number of consumers was 81 percent the same week in 2019, and the lowest since September.

“[This]. . . it could be a very careful reason for the visibility of the Omicron version of the Covid-19, “said ONS.

Transaction line chart in stores, index: 100 = January 2020 average, Transactions in Pret A Manger stores fell in December.

The decline in consumer spending was even greater in London, reflecting the return of home-based guidance and the increasing number of Covid cases. in the capital.

In London, sales of Pret A Manger dropped by 29 percent in mid-December to the lowest level since September, with tuberculosis numbers falling to half a century earlier.


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