Scottish Secretary Reacts To GDP Figures For February 2024

2nd May 2024

Alister Jack reaffirms UK Government's goal to achieve long-term growth with more than £3bn invested directly across Scotland to boost business and prosperity.

Latest figures published this morning, 1 May 2024, show Scotland's onshore GDP is estimated to have fallen by 0.3% in February 2024. This follows a growth of 0.6% in January.

In the three months to February, however, GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.4% compared to the previous three-month period. This indicates an improvement in quarterly growth after the contraction of 0.5% (revised from -0.6%) in 2023 Quarter 4 (October to December).

Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack said, "Long-term sustainable growth remains our goal, and with inflation expected to fall to our 2% target soon, we’re on track to achieve that. We must stick to our plan.

Just this week, 2.4million Scottish workers saw the benefit of the second 2p National Insurance cut, meaning a saving of £833 a year for the average worker. That’s on top of the biggest ever increase to the national living wage.

The UK Government is now investing more than £3billion direct into communities across the whole of Scotland, boosting trade and encouraging opportunity throughout the UK.

The combined impact of the Autumn and Spring policy packages is a permanent 0.5% increase in the level of potential output by the end of the OBR’s forecast.

Full expensing is the biggest business tax cut in modern British history worth over £50 billion over the next five years - helping companies to invest for less.

Since 2010, the UK has grown faster than France, Japan and Italy, and Germany.

Borrowing is being kept under control, with the forecast for total borrowing at Spring Budget £0.3 billion lower than at Autumn Statement 2023.