LONDON (Reuters] – British consumers are at their lowest point since February. The country was placed under COVID-19 restrictions. These were due to fears about rising prices and the economic outlook.

This survey was in line with similar gauges of consumer confidence from Britain, which have indicated that a rising cost-of living squeeze is affecting the recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic.

These readings are a result of disarray in Britain over the past few days. A shortage of truckers has left many fuel pumps empty across the country. Additionally, a rise in European wholesale prices increased the possibility of an increase in utility bills.

Robert Wood, an economist at Bank of America said in a note that “our proprietary UK consumer optimism indicator continued to decline over the last two weeks and reached its lowest point since February on our seven-day moving average,” and that clients should be aware of this.

According to the survey, almost three quarters of Britons expect inflation to rise above 5% within five years.

Bank of England officials want to know if rising inflation expectations are a danger to the Bank’s 2% inflation target for medium term.

Some policymakers fear that investors and consumers may lose trust in the central banks’ ability to manage inflation. As a result, there is a possibility of higher interest rates even when the economy is slowing.

On Friday, another survey revealed that British employers have increased the pay of new staff members by at least 50% since the 1990s.

The Bank of America data did not show any signs of an ailing 1970s wage-price spiral. The BofA survey’s expectations for wage growth showed no sign of improvement and was close to pre-pandemic norms.