The Bank of England’s (BoE) monthly statistics on money and credit
revealed that the amount of consumer credit in Britain rose by GBP1.378 billion
in February, following a revised GBP1.770 billion increase (from GBP1.877
billion) in January. Economists had predicted
an advance of GBP1.600 billion.
Meanwhile, net mortgage borrowing by UK individuals was GBP1.510
billion, compared to a revised GBP1.073 billion of net repayments (from GBP1.086
billion) in January. Economists had forecast net repayments of GBP0.150 billion.
This marked the highest borrowing since January 2023 (GBP1.900 billion). According to the BoE’s data, gross
lending increased to GBP17.956 billion in February from GBP17.059 billion in the
previous month, while gross repayments declined to GBP16.652 billion from GBP18.458
billion a month ago.
The report also revealed that the number of mortgage approvals for
house purchases jumped to 60,383 in February (the highest level since September
2022 (65,349)) from a revised 56,087 (from 55,227) in January, exceeding economists’
expectations of 56,500.
Net lending to individuals in the UK was GBP2.888 billion in February compared
to a revised GBP0.697 billion (from GBP0.791 billion) in the previous month.
That was the highest reading since December 2022 (GBP3.310 billion).