Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's attempts to boost the UK economy have fallen short, as the IMF predicts a 0.3% contraction in 2023, leaving the UK near the bottom of the global league table.
Economy
The latest Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) survey has reveals that while the beginning of 2023 brought relief to some sectors of the Scottish economy, cost pressures and inflation concerns continue to impede overall business growth. Many Scottish SMEs still report no improvement in sales, cashfl
Fraser of Allander Institute has forecast a -0.7% contraction in the Scottish economy in 2023, returning to 0.9% annual growth in 2024. Uncertainties have increased due to concerns in global financial system and persistently high inflation. Lack of clarity on annual impacts on Scottish Budget and UK
Scotland’s onshore GDP increased by 0.9% in January, according to statistics announced by the chief statistician.
Amid instability in the US and European banking systems and an unexpected jump in inflation to 10.4% during February, the Bank of England has announced another increase to the base interest rate to 4.25%.
Despite falling petrol prices having a positive effect on inflation, the consumer price index (CPI) unexpectedly jumped 0.3% to 10.4%.
Scotland's food and drink industry has achieved record high exports despite the impact of Brexit, according to HMRC trade statistics. The industry's global exports were worth £8 billion in 2022, a 30.6% increase from the previous year and 8.1% higher than the pre-pandemic peak in 2019.
In today's Spring Budget announcement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, did not reveal many surprises as expected policies were confirmed. The Chancellor began his speech by noting that the UK economy will not enter a "technical recession this year" saying that “our plan is workin
As the Chancellor prepares his Spring Budget, new research has revealed the policy areas that Scottish mid-market business leaders hope to see prioritised. The Grant Thornton UK LLP’s latest Business Outlook Tracker found that incentives to support low carbon business strategies and incentives
GDP figures for January have shown a 0.3% increase month-on-month, recovering some of the ground lost in December when output fell by 0.5%. Experts have said the figures provide some "hope that the UK economy may finally be kicking into gear" after the economy stagnated and went into negative g
Scotland’s fish farms have delivered a £3.3 billion boost to the country’s economy over the last decade, official figures have revealed.
The Post Office generates an economic impact of £292 million, and has a particularly strong per capita impact originating from rural constituencies in Scotland such as Ross, Skye and Lochaber, and Argyll and Bute, according to a new independent report by London Economics.
The Scottish Government has voted to provide an additional £223 million to local authorities to support pay awards to staff as part of the 2023-24 Scottish Budget. Deputy First Minister John Swinney said an improving financial position enabled him to address some pressing asks. The extra money
The Scottish Government has announced that trade minister Ivan McKee will meet global industry leaders during a visit to Indonesia and Singapore aimed at unlocking new trade and investment opportunities. At the Global Space and Technology Convention in Singapore he will highlight the success of Scot
The Scottish private sector reported a further fall in total activity during January according to the latest Royal Bank of Scotland PMI data. The Business Activity Index - a measure of combined manufacturing and service sector output - fell from December's five-month high of 48.3 to 47.1, signalling