THE Scottish economy grew by only 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year – one-third of the below-trend pace of expansion in the UK as a whole – official figures have revealed.
The figures add to a raft of evidence signalling that the economy in Scotland is performing even more poorly than that in the UK as a whole.
Scotland’s weaker performance appears in large part to be the result of the oil and gas sector’s woes, and their knock-on effect.
The latest Scottish Government figures, published today, now show a 0.1 per cent fall in gross domestic product (GDP) north of the Border in the third quarter.
The previous GDP figures had shown growth of 0.1 per cent in the three months to September last year.
Over 2015 as a whole, the Scottish economy grew by 1.9 per cent, the latest figures reveal. This is adrift of below-trend expansion of 2.3 per cent in the UK as a whole.
UK growth in the fourth quarter was revised up from 0.5 per cent to 0.6 per cent in figures published last week by the Office for National Statistics.
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