Revised figures published yesterday by the Scottish Government show quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.1% in Scotland’s onshore gross domestic product in the final three months of last year.
Separate data from the Scottish Government, also seasonally adjusted, reveal that onshore GDP north of the Border was in the three months to February up by 0.7% on the September to November period.
This was slightly ahead of UK growth of 0.6% recorded by the Office for National Statistics over this timeframe, and was achieved in spite of a 0.2% month-on-month contraction in Scotland’s onshore GDP in February.
Month-on-month growth in Scotland in January was revised up from 0.3% to 0.4%.
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UK GDP stagnated in January but grew by 0.5% in February.
The fourth-quarter Scottish GDP data show that, in the final three months of last year on a quarter-on-quarter basis, output was flat in the services sector. The production sector grew by 0.2%, while construction activity increased by 0.5%.
Scottish Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said: “Global economic uncertainty has been rising but I am encouraged to see growth of 0.7% in the three months to February.
“Despite limited devolved powers, our forthcoming programme for government will face up to the very different economic landscape and take all the steps we can to improve the position of Scotland to draw in new investment and create jobs.”
She added: “However, it is clear that a co-ordinated response is required and we need to see bold and decisive action from the UK Government at a scale which reflects the economic uncertainty being felt by business, workers and families – including the reversal of its damaging decision to increase employers’ national insurance contributions.”
