THE decline in Scotland's economy appears to be slowing, according to figures released today.
Government statistics showed the country's economy had declined by 0.8 per cent from April to June, improving on the previous quarterly fall
of 2.5 per cent for January to March.
The 0.8 per cent decline is slightly higher than the UK figure of
0.6 per cent.
Today's figures show output in the service sector fell by 0.4%, with declines in financial services, transport, storage and communications being partly offset by a slight growth in public administration and real estate.
In the manufacturing sector, metals and metal products were worst affected, falling by 8.5%, while chemicals and man-made fibres fell by 4.2%.
But food, drink, tobacco, engineering and textiles all chalked up gains.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "While Scotland continues to have higher employment and economic activity rates than the UK as a whole, today's figures confirm that there is no room for complacency.
"We must continue to do all we can to position Scotland's economy for recovery."
He said the figures showed the Scottish Government was "absolutely right" to speed up capital spending to fight the recession.
"We want the flexibility to be able to continue to accelerate spending into 2010-11 and will continue to press the Chancellor to use his pre-budget report to allow us to do just that and help us continue to support thousands of jobs in Scotland," he said.
Other figures published today also suggested the worst may be over.
The CBI's latest quarterly industrial survey said Scotland's manufacturing sector saw a return to growth in output and orders in the three months to October.
And an "even stronger" increase is predicted over the next three months, it said.
Total new orders rose for the first time since April 2008, and the rate of growth was its fastest since July 2006.
This, said the CBI, reflected improving domestic orders while export orders were "broadly flat" after nine months of strong decline.
The CBI said: "The outlook for both orders and output is set to improve further in the current quarter, with faster growth predicted in both.
"Indeed, optimism among Scottish manufacturers regarding both the business situation over the past three months and export prospects for the year ahead has stabilised, after sentiment had been falling for the past five quarters."
CBI Scotland director Iain McMillan said: "These results are encouraging and the best for 18 months, and provide further grounds for believing that the worst appears to be over for the manufacturing industry in Scotland.
"A number of the key indicators – such as orders and output – have over the past three months returned to positive territory, with further steady improvement across a wider range of indicators expected over the coming quarter."
But business optimism – and investment intentions – for the year ahead were "becalmed", as economic growth was expected to remain "anaemic" well into next year, he said.
