THE Bank of England's cut in interest rates to 0.25% last week had desperation written all over it. It could be argued that Governor Mark Carney is deploying the kitchen sink approach to financial management, throwing everything he can at an economy sinking into recession: more quantitative easing; £100bn in bank lending, buying company debt and so on.

So where stands Scotland? The truth is that Scotland's growth rate has long trailed that of the UK. With the crisis in the oil and gas sector, following the crash in oil prices, Scotland will be extremely lucky to avoid a recession this year, as the Fraser of Allander think tank has pointed out. Brexit has up-ended the Scottish Government's economic strategy, which was premised on remaining within the single European market. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon hopes Scotland can retain a relationship with the EU, but few economists agree.

Many will conclude that the only answer is to leave the UK so that Scotland can seek to re-enter the European Union as an independent country. However there seems little prospect of another independence referendum before 2018, and the Scottish Government cannot sit on its hands until then. Holyrood's economic powers are limited but ministers must explore bringing forward investment programmes and using what borrowing powers the Scottish Parliament possesses to immediate effect.

The tax-raising powers which the parliament has just acquired will be of limited use since Holyrood lacks powers over business taxes such as corporation tax. Slashing income taxes across the board might appeal to some free market economists, but would be unlikely to find favour with Scottish voters because of the cuts in public services that might result. As it is, the new UK Chancellor, Phillip Hammond, is expected to announce new austerity cuts in his autumn statement.

The Scottish Government should be similarly wary of continuing with cuts in air passenger duty, APD. The economic value of this tax cut to generally well-off fliers is unclear and the environmental costs could be considerable. Some have urged the Scottish Government to press ahead with fracking in order to breathe life into Scotland's hydrocarbon industry – but the reality is that there is no majority in the Scottish Parliament for fracking and the Scottish Government's moratorium should remain.

Perhaps the most useful move would be for the SNP to add its weight to the demands by the Labour Party in Westminster for a significant boost to economic expansion through public borrowing. Nicola Sturgeon can seek some satisfaction at least that her 2015 general election call for a £180bn infrastructure-led expansion of the UK economy, rejected as too radical by Labour, has been vindicated.

Before the Holyrood election, the First Minister pledged that if elected, her government would "use every power at our disposal to boost our economy and create more and better jobs here in Scotland". It is time for those powers to be exercised.