Hmmm, not a great start to the festive season with a range of figures and stats out showing the UK, and indeed the rest of the world, is not in great shape financially speaking. We all expected some pain following the economic turmoil of recent months but it is proving a little more painful than was first thought.

Recently released data from accountancy firm Deloitte predict that an overall fall of around 7% is expected in Christmas spending for this year, as shoppers continue to try and cut back on their expenditure. The report shows that the decline will be felt across a wide variety of goods and services such as gifts, food, clothes, entertainment and socialising.

Richard Hyman, strategic advisor to the retail practice at Deloitte, said: ‘I think the main headline is this is the worst Christmas for a generation. But as a nation we’ll be spending £36bn so it’s not a total disaster. Broadly speaking, we believe sales will be flat this Christmas, with a slight fall possible.’

The average spend per adults over Christmas is likely to be around £655, according to the report, and of those polled around 19% planned to spend more on Christmas this year compared to last, despite the difficult financial situation. 24% of consumers plan to spend less this Christmas, but around 57% plan to spend the same as they did last year.

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