Financial and business services key sector report

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

The Strategy acknowledged the need to measure progress and to benchmark Scotland as a location against international and regional comparators. These comparisons are reported in table 2. International comparator locations are OECD members and include major economies such as the USA, Japan and Germany, while the regional analysis compares Scotland to the countries and regions of the UK (or GB depending on data availability). Similar analysis has not, to date, been undertaken on the business services sector. This analysis will be undertaken as part of a programme of work on the key sectors.

Section 1 noted the key role that the financial services industry plays in the Scottish economy, and table 2 confirms this position. For example, on international and regional comparators, the sector's relative position on a number of benchmarks is marked. Moreover, with the exception of exports per worker, relative performance has become more pronounced since 2000.

Scottish Government
February 2010