By Ian McConnell
Business Editor
SCOTLAND recorded a much-sharper rise in the number of foreign direct investment projects secured than the UK as a whole in the year to March, figures from the Department for International Trade show.
The data, published yesterday, reveal that Scotland attracted 119 inward investment projects in the year to March 31, up 29 per cent from 92 in the prior 12 months.
Scottish Trade Minister Ivan McKee said: “These latest results are very encouraging and once again underline the strength of the inward investment offer in Scotland, in spite of the significant challenges posed by the pandemic and Brexit.”
In the UK as a whole, the number of FDI projects secured in the 12 months to March was up just 3% on the prior year at 1,589. This followed a 17% drop during the 2020/21 year, from 1,852 in 2019/20.
The number of FDI projects secured by Scotland in 2019/20 was 121. The 2021/22 figure is just two adrift of this number following the sharp rebound in the year to March.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Boris Johnson must heed fears his bonfire could make UK goods ‘unsellable’ in Europe
The latest Department for International Trade figures show 4,408 new jobs were attached to FDI projects won by Scotland in 2021/22. There were 3,245 new jobs associated with the 92 projects secured in the prior 12 months. In 2019/20, there were 2,946 new jobs associated with the 121 FDI projects secured.
The total number of new jobs associated with FDI projects secured by the UK as a whole in the year to March was 84,759, 53% higher than the 55,319 figure recorded for the prior 12 months. The new jobs figure for inward investment projects won by the UK in 2019/20 was 56,117. In the year to March 2015, it was 84,603.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Why did Tory Brexiters think this was a good idea?
Mr McKee said: “Scotland is an attractive country for investors due to our highly skilled workforce [and] strong business networks, supported by regional economic advisory bodies.”
Scotland achieved a 14% rise in the number of FDI projects secured in calendar year 2021, to 122, way ahead of a 1.8% increase for the UK as a whole, a report published late last month by accountancy firm EY showed. Countries across Europe saw an overall 5.4% rise in the number of FDI projects attracted. The EY report also showed Scotland’s attractiveness rating from potential future investors had hit a record. It revealed 15.8% of potential future investors had rated Scotland as the most attractive location in the UK for FDI. Only London scored better on this front.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel