The Scottish economy grew by 0.6% quarter-on-quarter in the three months to June, matching the UK-wide rate of expansion, official figures published today reveal.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes flagged confidence in Scotland’s medium and long term prospects in spite of the “continuing challenges posed by Brexit”. She declared the Scottish Government looked forward to working with the UK Government on the “challenges”.
Scotland’s services sector expanded by 0.6% in the second quarter, with production output rising by 0.8%. The agriculture, fishing and forestry sector achieved growth of 0.9% in the three months to June, but construction output fell by 0.1% The Scottish data do not include offshore oil and gas extraction.
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The 0.6% growth in Scotland in the second quarter was achieved in spite of a 0.3% month-on-month dip in output in June.
The Scottish economy, which unlike the UK as a whole avoided falling into recession at the end of last year, expanded by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024. The UK economy grew by 0.7% in the opening three months of this year as it exited recession.
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Ms Forbes said: “Overall, these figures paint a picture of a growing and resilient economy.
“The Scottish Government has made economic growth a clear priority, and I am pleased to see consistent overall growth over the past six months despite harsh economic climates.”
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She added: “Figures for the second quarter follow the trend seen across the UK and I am optimistic about Scotland’s medium and long term economic prospects, despite the restrictions of the devolution settlement and the continuing challenges posed by Brexit. We look forward to working with the UK Government to address these challenges.”
Ms Forbes declared the Scottish Government is “investing more than £5 billion in 2024/25 to drive the economy”, and noted that “further initiatives will be detailed in the forthcoming programme for government and our green industrial strategy”.
She added: “A strong economy is fundamental to achieving the Scottish Government’s priorities of eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, tackling climate change and improving public services.”
The Scottish Government noted in the GDP statistics release that growth in the output of the business services and finance sub-sector "accounted for two-thirds of the headline 0.6% growth".
Scotland's GDP in the second quarter was up by 0.9% on the same period of last year. This matched the year-on-year increase in GDP in the three months to June in the UK as a whole.
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