SCOTLAND'S economy is back to performing at pre-recession levels, a new survey of businesses suggests.
The latest figures for company turnover in the Bank of Scotland Business Monitor are the best results for almost seven years.
Almost half of the firms surveyed (46 per cent) said they had seen their turnover rise in the three months to the end of May, while 36 per cent said their turnover had stayed the same and 18 per cent experienced a decrease.
Bank of Scotland chief economist Donald MacRae said: "The surge in economic activity identified in summer 2013 has been maintained into summer this year.
"Expectations are at their highest level since mid-2007, suggesting the recovery will continue throughout 2014. Further increases in investment by firms would enhance the recovery."
The survey of 408 businesses also showed the recovery in export activity had been maintained over the period of March to May this year.
More than one-quarter (27 per cent) of firms surveyed said exports activity had increased in this period, while 60 per cent said it was static and 13 per cent reported a fall.
Almost half (47 per cent) of the businesses questioned expect their total volume of business to increase in the six months between May and November, while 46 per cent expect to see turnover grow and 31 per cent believe exports will rise over this period.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "These encouraging figures show continued improvement in the Scottish economy, with the Business Monitor showing the economy is now performing at levels not seen since the recession and business expectations for the next six months remaining at levels last seen in 2007.
"There are grounds for optimism, with a higher balance of firms than at any point in almost seven years reporting an increase in turnover.
"These figures add to the recent positive news on employment, inward investment, tourism and manufacturing - all of which show the Scottish economy performing well as we emerge from the recession."
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 hereComments are closed on this article