The latest Addleshaw Goddard Business Monitor report – produced in partnership with the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute – indicates that firms are more optimistic about their expected volume of business over the next six months with employment also expected to increase.
The latest real-time indicators reflect that of an economy gearing to open back up. Google searches for hairdressers and pubs are growing across the UK and the number of vacancies across Scotland is continuing to recover from its trough last May.
Our fourth election podcast looks at some of the key policy issues that have arisen in the campaign this week – with a brief discussion on key points within the manifesto’s released so far and some insights into what to look out for in the coming week. We were also joined by Mure Dickie, the Scottish correspondent for the Financial Times, for his thoughts on the campaign so far.
Despite a challenging year, and a long winter, there is finally some optimism. The latest data shows positive signs of the economy gradually gearing up for (hopefully) an expected recovery in economic activity.
The latest GDP data for Scotland shows that the Scottish economy continued to contract into December with a decline of 0.3%. The Scottish economy remains 7.2% below pre-pandemic levels; this compares to 6.3% in the UK economy.
As the national lockdown remains across Scotland and the UK, and we approach the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in Scotland, the story amongst the sectors of the economy continues to emerge.
Scotland, like the rest of the UK, remains under a national lockdown with over half of Scottish businesses with furloughed staff and a rise in businesses expecting to make staff redundant in the coming weeks.
At the end of last year we published our first ‘back to basics’ article on Scotland’s business base. This article is the second in our series and we will be discussing how investment in R&D has evolved the past few years, the challenges and opportunities for R&D in Scotland and the future of R&D.
In our last update back in November, the number of businesses trading and the outlook for business activity remained fairly stable. However, with restrictions tightening over the Christmas period, many businesses finished off 2020 with more uncertainty than hoped.