Grow th in Scotland is outstripping rest of UK

SCOTLAND’S economic performance outstripped the rest of the UK over the past year, revised figures show.

The latest Quarterly National Accounts Scotland indicate that the economy performed more favourably than had been forecast – but experts have warned that the country has still ‘under-performed’.

GDP growth has been revised upwards for the first quarter of 2018, from an estimate of 0.2 per cent published in June.

The revision means that since the same three-month period last year GDP has grown by 1.3 per cent instead of the 0.8 per cent forecast.

Growth north of the Border has outstripped the UK as a whole, where it was 0.2 per cent over the first quarter and 1.2 per cent over the year.

But while the Scottish Government welcomed the news yesterday, claiming that the value of manufactured exports had helped provide a boost, experts argued that this was not all good news.

Economist John McLaren claimed that the growth rate has remained poor since 2010, averaging at only one per cent a year.

He said: ‘The revised figures for Scottish GDP show a better performance of late than had been previously estimated.

‘But the post-recession performance remains poor, in fact overall worse than before.’

For the financial year 201718, the value of Scotland’s onshore GDP is estimated at £156.5billion, or £28,797 per person, in current prices.

Including a geographical share of UK offshore and overseas economic activity, Scottish GDP is estimated at £170.4billion in total, or £31,367 per person.

Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘Despite all the revisions up and down, one thing is clear – over the last few years, Scotland’s economy has under-performed.

‘We need to see focused Government action supporting enterprise, and a tax system that incentivises entrepreneurs to make Scotland their home.

‘Unfortunately, Nicola Sturgeon’s anti-growth agenda proposes the exact opposite a complete muddle of an economic plan and a tax regime that taxes jobs and investment.’

However, Economy and Finance Secretary Derek Mackay described the figures as ‘hugely encouraging’.

He said: ‘Figures for the first quarter of 2018 also show that manufactured exports, which make up around half of the value of exports from Scotland to the rest of the world, have grown by 3.6 per cent reflecting the strength of international exports to the future of the economy.

‘The Scottish Government will continue to focus on growing Scotland’s economy.

‘We are investing a record £2.4billion in enterprise and skills, £4billion in infrastructure and delivering the most competitive rates relief in the UK.

‘This includes the Small Business Bonus, which has saved firms almost £1.5billion.’