Consumers 'unfazed' by economic gloom
Posted on 27 December 2007 by
Most of us are still confident about our own finances despite the credit crunch, according to a poll commissioned by the Guardian.
In the Guardian/ICM survey, 55% of respondents said that they remained confident about their personal financial situation, just 4 percentage points lower than the results of the same survey in July 2006.
However, 47% said they were less confident about bank security after the Northern Rock crisis, and only seven out of 10 of those who voted Labour at the last general election "think the party can be relied on to manage the economy".
The news comes as many high street stores and online retailers reported their busiest ever Boxing Day, with millions of people rushing to take advantage of big discounts in the post-Christmas sales.
Poor sales figures in the run-up to Christmas appear to have spurred retailers to offer particularly large price reductions this year. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that shoppers should expect discounting well into the New Year, as businesses continue to struggle.
The BRC's director-general Kevin Hawkins warned that there would have to be more action on interest rates to improve economic conditions in the longer term.
"On its own, December's interest rate cut won't overcome the developing slowdown," he said. "I hope the Bank of England have more pencilled in for January and March or April."
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