IT is important to keep the latest Scottish growth figures in context.
True, expansion did slow sharply in the three months to June, to just 0.1 per cent.
However, even though first-quarter expansion was revised down to 0.6 per cent, this is nevertheless still solid and way ahead of equivalent growth in the UK as a whole in the opening three months of 2017.
Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute, while understandably highlighting the challenges facing Scotland’s economy and public finances, viewed it as something of a success that Scotland had managed to build at all on its first-quarter economic output in the three months to June.
Fraser of Allander director Graeme Roy said of the latest Scottish GDP figures: “Continued growth is clearly welcome and, on the back of the strong growth in Q1 2017, we always said that holding on to some of these gains would be a success in its own right.”
This is an important piece of context. So is the observation from John McLaren, honorary professor at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School, that the drag on the Scottish economy from the onshore effect of the North Sea downturn is likely to have weakened in the first half.
It is also crucial not to forget Scotland’s struggles are to a large extent being caused by UK-wide economic problems, such as the impact of austerity and the Brexit shambles.
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