Scotland’s economy shrinks by a quarter

Scotland’s economy has shrunk by almost a quarter since the coronavirus outbreak began, with new figures showing “unprecedented” declines in almost every industry.

It is estimated GDP has fallen by 23% since February, new monthly figures have revealed.

This includes an 18.9% drop in April – the first full month that restrictions on business and travel were in place.

The economy is estimated to have contracted by 5% in March despite Scotland only being in lockdown for the final week of that month.

“When viewed across the two months of March and April, the total fall in output since February is provisionally estimated as 23% and output has fallen by an unprecedented amount in nearly every industry of the economy,” the report said.

It includes a slump of 85% for the accommodation and food sector over the two months, according to the data, while the arts, culture and recreation sector was hit with a 51% fall.

The Scottish Government stressed the new monthly GDP figures are “experimental” data and “all results are provisional and subject to relatively high levels of uncertainty”.

Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “The coronavirus pandemic is having an extremely serious impact on the economy right across the UK and – as these figures demonstrate – Scotland is no exception.”

In the production sector, output is estimated to have fallen 18.8% in April and 4.6% in March – while in manufacturing the drop was 25% over the two months.

For construction, the fall in output was estimated as being 39.8% in April, after a drop of 6.2% in March.

In the service sector – which makes up the bulk of Scotland’s economy – output was said to have declined by 17.6% in April after a fall of 5% in March.

Fiona Hyslop. Fraser Bremner.