Scots GDP well below pre-pandemic levels despite five months of growth
Economic growth in Scotland is still well below the level it was before the coronavirus pandemic, despite new data showing GDP has increased for the fifth month in a row.
Provisional figures from the Scottish Government showed GDP is estimated to have risen by 1.6 per cent in September.
While this is a fifth consecutive month of growth, the increase is smaller than those recorded in the summer.
E c o n o mi c o u t p u t i s s t i l l 7.6 per cent below the level recorded in February, the month before the economic impact of coronavirus was felt when Scotland went into lockdown.
The economy hit its lowest point in April, when GDP
was estimated to have fallen by almost a quarter (23.8 per cent) over just two months.
This compares with a drop o f j u s t 4 p e r c e n t e x p e r i - enced over 18 months when the financial crisis sparked a recession in 2008 and 2009.
After falling in March and
Apr i l , GDP s t a r ted t o r i s e again, with some businesses able to reopen over the summer - with growth peaking at 6.9 per cent in July. The latest figures, for S eptemb er, showed that growth continued, albeit at a lower rate.
GDP is now estimated to have risen by 14.7 per cent over the period July to September, after falling by 3.2 per cent and then 19.4 per cent in the first and second quarters of this year.
Meanwhile, the latest quarterly figures showed economic growth across all the main sectors of the economy. Output in the construction sector was estimated to have increased by 58 per cent, while there were rises of 14.7 per cent in the production sector, 12.7 per cent for ser vices and 3.1 per cent for agriculture, forestry and fishing.