UK consumer morale edges higher, but still very low: GfK

By Andy Bruce

LONDON (Reuters) - British consumer confidence ticked higher this month but remained close to record-low levels, with soaring inflation and the spectre of recession making a sustained improvement unlikely, market research firm GfK said on Friday.

GfK's monthly consumer confidence index, which dates back to 1974, rose in November to -44 from -47 in October, having struck an all-time low of -49 in September.

GfK said the improvement likely reflected relief among the British public that the country's financial outlook had stabilised following the departure of Prime Minister Liz Truss's government, whose fiscal plans triggered meltdown in British markets.

All five of GfK's gauges of household economic and financial confidence improved in November, but it said the big picture of a cost-of-living crisis and weak economy was unchanged.

Britain's official budget forecasters warned on Thursday of a record erosion in living standards, despite government schemes to limit the increase in energy bills as a result of the war in Ukraine

"Good news remains in short supply as many people struggle to manage the purse-strings during this protracted and painful cost-of-living crisis," said Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK.

British inflation was 11.1% in October, a 41-year high.

GfK conducted its poll of 2,000 people from Nov. 1 to Nov. 11.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by David Milliken)