Publication - Statistics

GDP quarterly national accounts for Scotland: 2019 Q1

Published: 7 August 2019
Directorate: Chief Economist Directorate
Topic: Economy

GDP Quarterly National Accounts (QNAS) statistics for 2019 Q1, produced by the Scottish Government.

Headline Results

Scotland’s GDP grew by 0.6% in real terms during the first quarter of 2019 compared to the previous quarter, revised up from the first estimate of 0.5%. The equivalent growth rate for the UK as a whole was 0.5%.
Compared to the same quarter last year, Scotland’s GDP has grown by 1.5%, revised up from the first estimate of 1.4%. Equivalent UK growth over the year was 1.8%.
In 2018, the latest estimate of Scotland’s annual GDP growth is 1.4% compared to 2017. Equivalent annual UK growth was 1.4%.
As reported in the first estimate, the largest single contribution to growth this quarter was the manufacturing sector (+2.3%), with particularly strong performances in the Pharmaceuticals and Drink industries. This strength is also seen in the estimates for manufactured exports to the rest of the world, which increased by a total of 1.4% in the latest quarter.
Over the latest year, the level of households’ disposable income has increased by 3.9% in current prices (unadjusted for inflation), while consumer spending has increased by 2.2%. As a result, the household savings ratio is estimated to have increased to 3.4%, up from 2.3% at the same point last year. This indicates that the savings ratio may be stabilising after falling sharply in recent years.

About the GDP Quarterly National Accounts

This publication includes the second estimate of onshore GDP growth for 2019 Quarter 1 (January-March), which uses additional data released since the GDP First Estimate published on 19 June. This release is comparable to the UK Quarterly National Accounts for Quarter 1.

This publication also includes the annual updates to data sources and industry weights following the publication of the annual Supply and Use Tables for 1998-2016 on 24 July 2019. As a result, all estimates, including GDP growth, have been open for revision back to 1998.

In addition to the second estimate of onshore growth in real terms, the GDP Quarterly National Accounts also includes:

Total GDP in cash terms for the onshore economy and the wider economy including offshore activities
Onshore GDP in cash terms broken down using all three of the output, expenditure and income approaches
The Index of Manufactured Exports (IME) in real terms
Household Sector income and expenditure accounts for Scotland, including Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI) and the Savings Ratio;
Public sector revenues.

Correction: 8 August 2019 - The column for Services in Table 5 of the supplementary tables was not properly updated in the initial release. This did not reflect any errors in underlying data or impact on any other results in the release. This has now been corrected.