THE problems faced by Scotland’s companies as a result of last year’s Brexit vote have been highlighted yet again in the Bank of Scotland’s latest monthly survey of the economy.
Sterling weakness has sent companies’ costs surging.
Manufacturers in particular flagged the impact of the weak pound as they endured a further acceleration of cost increases from an already heady pace. They also recorded a renewed fall in new export orders.
Sterling’s weakness should make Scottish exporters more competitive in overseas markets, but this did not seem to produce any obvious overall benefit in September.
Rather, the Bank of Scotland survey indicates the problems generated by the pound’s post-Brexit vote tumble – a drop that reflects the UK’s diminished economic prospects – are far outweighing any benefits.
It is not a happy situation.
The survey also shows employment growth in the Scottish private sector economy slowing to only a marginal pace. And manufacturers’ overall new orders also fell, seemingly underlining the weakness of the UK economy.
Not surprisingly, the Conservatives’ Brexit shambles, the extent of which was underlined at their annual conference last week, has weighed heavily on sterling in recent sessions. And there is no sign of any relief from this fiasco.
So Scotland’s companies just have to continue to make the best of difficult circumstances, and hope that some sort of common sense eventually prevails on the Brexit 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