SCOTTISH economic growth will outstrip UK-wide expansion over 2019 as a whole, PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts.
Among the nations and regions of the UK, only London and the south-east are expected to beat Scotland in terms of growth this year.
The accountancy firm has cut its growth forecast for Scotland for this year from the 1.6 per cent rate projected in July to 1.3%. It now predicts UK-wide growth of 1.2% this year.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: No escape from Johnson’s dire Brexit farce in Paris metro and airport
The economy north of the Border grew by 1.4% last year, according to Scottish Government data.
Economists have flagged the drag from Brexit-related uncertainty on growth both in Scotland and across the UK. Scottish and UK-wide expansion have been well below the long-term average in recent times.
Scottish growth is forecast by PwC to slow to just 1% in 2020, in line with projected UK-wide expansion next year.
Stewart Wilson, head of government and public sector for PwC in Scotland, said: “Our latest projections indicate that Scotland’s economy should perform relatively well both this year and next, slightly ahead of the UK overall. However, growth remains subdued relative to long-term trends.”
He added: “The economy is likely to remain subject to volatility given the current uncertainty in the country and across the world.
However, there could be a modest uplift in business investment should the UK finally secure an orderly Brexit. Even so, uncertainty across the global economy means growth is unlikely to return to previous levels next year.”
In its latest UK economic outlook, PwC analyses productivity. It concludes UK output per worker is around 10% to 15% behind Germany, France and Sweden and more than 30% adrift of the US.
PwC senior economist Alex Tuckett, said: “It is striking that the UK lags behind other advanced economies. Evidence suggests that this productivity shortfall is due to low levels of investment and R&D (research and development) spending and a longer tail of companies and workers with relatively low productivity and skills.”
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 here