A REPORT comparing the economy of an independent Scotland to Greece has been dismissed Scottish ministers, who claim the figures used are incorrect.
Analysts at Fathom Consulting said Scotland would have to own full share of oil assets, remove bank liabilities and also create its own currency.
It also warned spending cuts would be necessary.
Yesterday Better Together seized on the report, former Scottish Government economist Florian Baier and former Bank of England economist Erik Britton .
The pro-Union group claimed: "A new report . . . has said separation could lead to big cuts in public spending, the loss of the UK pound and the loss of Scotland's banking sector."
The Fathom report said: "An independent Scotland with its own currency, a small share of the UK's banking assets and a geographic share of its oil revenues which implemented a mix of tight fiscal and loose monetary policy from the outset could survive and indeed thrive.
"Other small economies with their own currencies manage to do so - particularly those blessed with substantial natural resources and the discipline to manage those resources sensibly."
But the report added that any other settlement with respect to the distribution of oil revenues or bank assets could make it impossible for Scotland to borrow, forcing the government into a severe tightening of fiscal policy and Scotland into recession.
It said: "Scotland would face a situation worse than the one that has been facing Greece for the last few years."
Mr Britton and Mr Gabay, a co-founder of Fathom, both worked for the Bank of England, with the latter going on to work with JP Morgan, but Mr Baier was not recognised as having been a significant figure at the Scottish Government.
A spokesman for First Minister said: "These claims about the size of Scotland's banking and financial sector are wrong.
"The reality is financial services account for a lower share of our overall economy at around 7% than they do for the UK as a whole.
"Independence will create the opportunity for Scotland to pursue a more productive, resilient and fairer economic model that delivered long-term sustainability and economic opportunity for all."
On behalf of Better Together, Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray said: "It's embarrassing for Salmond that one of his own former advisers has exposed the nationalists' lack of economic credibility.
"This latest expert intervention makes it clear that leaving the UK would put jobs and the money we have to spend on schools at hospitals at risk. That's a risk we simply don't have to take."
The exchanges came as Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee under Labour's Ian Davidson published a report agreeing the ruling out of a formal currency union by Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour leaders was unequivocal.
He said: "The Scottish Government tries to give the impression that a currency union is still a possibility. It is not. This parrot is dead."
The report calls on the Scottish Government to publish a Plan B. A spokesman for Mr Salmond branded the report lame and insisted the pound was "as much Scotland's as it is England, Wales and Northern Ireland's".
Better Together also seized on a report by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, one of Alex Salmond's top advisers, which was highly critical of the impact of the way Ireland had cut corporation tax. Labour leader Johann Lamont called this embarrassing for Mr Salmond, who advocates such a policy.
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