Confidence in Scottish business and economy on the rise, says BOS report

● Data shows ‘encouraging’ optimism from Scots firms amid Brexit concerns

Confidence in Scottish businesses and the economy is increasing, according to a Bank of Scotland study released today.

The bank’s Business Barometer, which questions 1,200 businesses each month to provide insights on UK economic trends, reported overall business confidence in Scotland had risen to 24 per cent, an increase of nine points since May.

These latest figures support research published on Wednesday by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which showed Scottish small business confidence was at a three-year high.

In the long term, the Business Barometer indicated the underlying trend for the year so far shows business confidence in Scotland is slowly growing, despite firms gener- ally becoming less optimistic about the UK economy overall.

Companies in Scotland also reported increased levels of confidence in their business projects (29 per cent) and economic optimism (18 per cent), as well as more positive hiring intentions compared with last month’s figures.

A net balance of 16 per cent of businesses in the region said they expected to take on new staff during the next year, a climb of ten points from May.

Fraser Sime, regional director for Scotland at Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking, said: “It’s encouraging to see the gradual rise in confidence across the country leading to a boost to recruitment plans throughout Scotland.

“Given the economic uncertainty the country’s businesses are facing, rising confidence in one month does not mean it’s plain sailing for anyone.

“But the fact that the underlying trend is positive suggests firms are slowly becoming more comfortable with uncertainty as the new normal.

“The challenge we face now is to keep these levels steady and support the rise in economic optimism to ensure businesses reach their full growth potential.”

This matched sentiments expressed earlier in the week by experts from the FSB, who called for Scottish decisionmakers to “nurture” the newfound optimism.

Across Scotland, the Businessbarometerreportedthere had been a decrease in the number of companies that feel Brexit is negatively impacting their business activity expectations, bringing the overall number down to 16 per cent.

However, almost half of Scottish companies expected the Bank of England to raise interest rates this year, with the average firm saying an increase of one per cent would impact their business in a negative way.