UK consumer credit slumped as new lockdown hit in January: BoE

LONDON (Reuters) - British consumer borrowing fell at its fastest pace in January since May last year as the country went back into a coronavirus lockdown, Bank of England data showed on Monday.

Unsecured lending to consumers fell by 2.4 billion pounds ($3.35 billion), the biggest fall since last May's 4.6 billion-pound drop and more than a median forecast for a 1.9 billion-pound fall in a Reuters poll of economists.

That took the year-on-year fall to 8.9%, the biggest decline since monthly records began in 1994, the BoE said.

British lenders approved 98,994 mortgages in January, down by about 4,000 from December.

The Reuters poll of economists had seen approvals falling more sharply, to 96,000.

($1 = 0.7174 pounds)

(Reporting by William Schomberg and Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)