Forbes pledges action as economic growth slips – Daily Business

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes is promising action to attract investment in next week’s programme for government after figures showed the Scottish economy’s recovery faltered in February.

Scotland’s onshore GDP for the month contracted by 0.2% following growth of 0.4% – revised from 0.3% – in January.

In the three months to February, GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.7% compared to the previous three month period. October to December saw growth of 0.1% – revised from zero.

The figures came ahead of Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement and the recent rises in UK employer costs which came into effect at the start of this month.

Ms Forbes said: “Global economic uncertainty has been rising but I am encouraged to see growth of 0.7% in the three months to February.

“Despite limited devolved powers, our forthcoming Programme for Government will face up to the very different economic landscape and take all the steps we can to improve the position of Scotland to draw in new investment and create jobs.

“However it is clear that a co-ordinated response is required and we need to see bold and decisive action from the UK Government at a scale which reflects the economic uncertainty being felt by business, workers and families – including the reversal of its damaging decision to increase employers’ national insurance contributions.”

In February, the largest contribution to headline GDP was made by the Electricity & Gas Supply sector which grew by 14.1%, contributing 0.3 percentage points to overall GDP.

The biggest downturn was in Information & Communications which contracted by 3.5%, contributing -0.2 percentage points to overall GDP in February.