Hammering for Scottish economy
SCOTLAND’S economy has been battered into recession, with output down by a fifth since lockdown.
Official figures show the two consecutive drops in gross domestic product (GDP), down 2.5 per cent in the first three months and an eye-watering 19.7 per cent in the second quarter.
There was a slight return to growth in June but gains were obliterated by the crisis in spring.
The Scottish Government said provisional figures showed GDP is still 17.6 per cent down on pre-Covid levels in February.
Liz Cameron, of business group Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: “These figures confirm the Scottish economy is in deep recession and intervention is required now to prevent real and lasting damage to the jobs market.”
She called for UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak to make an immediate reduction in employers’ national insurance contributions.
“Without rapid intervention in the form of fiscal stimulus packages as well as costcutting efforts such as rates holidays, we fear
BY ANDY PHILIP that Scotland’s economic landscape may never recover to previous levels,” she warned.
Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish Government economy secretary, said the figures show the devastating impact of “necessary” lockdown restrictions.
She repeated calls for the job retention scheme, known as furlough, to be extended beyond October.
The wage protection measure has already helped 700,000 workers in Scotland.
Alister Jack, the UK Government’s Scottish Secretary, said: “The UK Government has put in place unprecedented measures to support people, right across the country, through the pandemic.
“We are supporting almost 900,000 jobs in Scotland through the pioneering furlough and self-employed schemes and have loaned more than £2.3billion to 65,000 Scottish businesses.
“This is on top of an extra £6.5billion of funding for the Scottish Government.”
Jack added: “We know that there are very real challenges ahead of us.”