LONDON (Reuters) – British spending on credit and debit cards rose to 91% of its pre-pandemic level last week, driven by a big jump in spending on goods such as clothes and furniture as non-essential shops in England reopened for the first time since January.
The Office for National Statistics said CHAPS high-value payment data from card processors, collected by the Bank of England, showed that spending on ‘delayable’ goods such as clothing and furnishings jumped by 26 percentage points to 89% of its pre-crisis average.
Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Kate Holton
