LONDON (Reuters) -British consumer borrowing rose solidly in March and mortgage lending hit its highest since September as house prices surged, according to Bank of England data that showed no early sign of a hit to economy from the country’s cost-of-living squeeze.
Lending to consumers rose by 1.3 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in net terms, as expected in a Reuters poll of economists and following a nearly 1.6 billion-pound increase in February.
Credit card lending accounted for more than half of the increase in March, which was before a sharp rise in energy costs and an increase in taxes in April.
The BoE reported 7.0 billion pounds of net mortgage lending, up from 4.6 billion pounds in February, and 70,961 mortgage approvals, down slightly from the previous month but still well above the pre-pandemic norm.
Britain’s housing market retained much of its momentum in the first months of 2022, despite the phasing out of temporary tax breaks on property purchases in the second half of 2021.
The BoE is watching for signs of how fast-rising inflation is affecting the economy as it considers how much further it needs to raise interest rates. The central bank is expected to increase its Bank Rate to 1.0% from 0.75% on Thursday.
($1 = 0.7988 pounds)
(Reporting by Andy BruceEditing by William Schomberg)
