国际英语新闻：U.S. consumer credit falls sharply in May

WASHINGTON, July 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. consumer credit dropped sharply in May, a sign of consumers' less willingness to borrow amid uncertain economic prospect and still-sluggish job market, the Federal Reserve reported on Thursday.

Total consumer borrowing dropped 9.1 billion dollars in May, well exceeding a decrease of 2.3 billion dollars projected by economists, according to the report.

The fed also revised the April's figure to a slump of 14.9 billion dollars, instead of its initial estimate of an increase of 1 billion dollars.

Consumer borrowing has fallen in 15 of the past 16 months as households reshape their battered balance sheets. The decline indicates that consumers are reluctant to borrow when economic recovery is still unsecure and jobless rate remains high.

The report showed that evolving debt, which includes credit cards, dropped by 7.3 billion dollars in May, while non-revolving debt, including loans for cars and mobile homes, fell by 1.8 billion dollars during the same period.

Economists are worrying that falling consumer borrowing, an indicator of weak consumer spending, could derail the fragile recovery. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the overall economic activity, remains the major drive of the U.S. economy.