THE Scottish economy outperformed the UK as a whole in the fourth quarter of last year, latest official data reveal.

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Gross domestic product north of the Border grew by 0.3% in the final quarter of 2018. The UK as a whole grew by 0.2%.

Over 2018 as a whole, growth in Scotland of 1.4% matched expansion in the UK as a whole.

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John McLaren, who runs the Scottish Trends website, said: “It now looks like the Scottish economy seriously under performed in 2015 and 2016 but since then, 2017 and 2018, has returned to growth on a par with that of the UK as a whole, although still below the historical average. The main culprit for the 2015 and 2016 underperformance may well be the downturn in North Sea oil and gas activity, in particular with respect to the manufacturing sector of metal products and machinery.”

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