Brits saved extra £100bn helping consumer spending to bounce back, says BoE’s Haldane

Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane said consumer spending in Britain has come back at a “real pace”.

Haldane told the Daily Mail that people had accumulated around £100 billion in “excess savings” during lockdowns and are already beginning to spend that.

“Consumer spending has come back at a real pace,” Haldane was quoted as saying.

“People are using their involuntarily-accumulated savings on a new house or a new car… there are plenty of those savings still to be used.”

His comments to the newspaper come after the parliament approved a system of regional COVID-19 restrictions for England last week, replacing a month-long stricter national lockdown.

Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and Haldane said that it could deliver a boost to the British economy.

“There is plenty of scope there for the vaccine to release more of that pent-up demand,” Haldane was quoted as saying.