Scotland's economy shrank 0.1% in August after a revised fall in July
Output still grew 0.3% over the three months to August and was 1.3% higher than a year earlier, with services growing while production and construction contracted.
By Daily Oracles News Team2 min read
Scotland's economy contracted by 0.1% in August, according to Scottish Government estimates published on Wednesday 28 October.
The same release revised July from growth of 0.1% to a fall of 0.3%, so output has now dropped in two months running. The monthly estimates were brought into line with the quarterly national accounts for April to June, which came out on the same day.
The figures cover the onshore economy only, so offshore oil and gas extraction is excluded. They are seasonally adjusted, stripped of inflation and published as official statistics in development, which means the statisticians treat them as provisional and subject to relatively high uncertainty.
The three-month picture
Because single months swing around, the release leads on three-month comparisons. Gross domestic product grew 0.3% in the three months to August compared with the three months to May.
Against the same three months of 2025, output was 1.3% higher. August on its own was 1.1% above August last year.
Sector by sector
- Services: up 0.2% in August, up 0.7% over three months and 1.7% higher than a year earlier
- Production: down 1.2% in August and 1.7% over three months, but 0.2% higher than a year earlier
- Construction: down 0.3% in August, 0.9% over three months and 1.6% lower than a year earlier
Within production, manufacturing fell 0.9% in August and was the largest drag on three-month growth. Administrative and support services, and health and social work, each added about 0.2 percentage points.
Sentiment and supply chains
Alongside the GDP figures, the Scottish Consumer Sentiment Indicator showed sentiment up 4 points over the July to September quarter. Month by month, it rose 2.0 points in August and fell 3.5 points in September. A business survey of firms with 10 or more staff found 45.6% had some concern about supply chains in September, up from 45.0% in August, with international conflict (31.6%) and shipping and distribution (22.3%) the most common worries.
The estimate for September, which will complete the third quarter, is due at 9.30am on Wednesday 25 November.
