Monthly GDP estimates for October

Scotland’s GDP increased by 0.6% in October, according to statistics announced today by the Chief Statistician. This is the sixth consecutive month of increasing GDP, but output remains 5.7% below the level in February prior to the direct impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October there was growth of 2.7% in the production sector and 1.2% in the construction sector, but zero growth overall in the services sector. Whilst there was growth in most of the services subsectors, this was offset by a fall in accommodation and food services as local restrictions on business opening began to be applied across health board areas in the central belt of Scotland.

Within the production sector, total manufacturing output is estimated to have recovered to above the pre-pandemic level in February, although this does vary between different manufacturing industries. Electricity and gas output has also returned to a level higher than seen in February.

Background

The Monthly GDP Estimate for October is available at:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/monthly-gdp-october-2020 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the output of the economy in Scotland. These monthly estimates have been developed to help track the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These are designated as experimental official statistics. This means that they are still in development but have been released to enable their use at an early stage. All results are provisional and subject to relatively high levels of uncertainty.

All results are seasonally adjusted and presented in real terms (adjusted to remove inflation). GDP growth in this publication relates to Scotland’s onshore economy, which means it does not include the output of offshore oil and gas extraction.

Further information on GDP statistics is available at http://www.gov.scot/gdp 

These estimates are compiled in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics – more information on the standards of official statistics can be accessed at: https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/code-of-practice/