Economy reports

Economic updates

Key factsScottish key facts - providing an overview of the Scottish economy and key sectors.

Scottish key facts

Economic commentaryEconomic commentary - monthly overview of recent trends in the global, UK and Scottish economies

Economic commentary May 2013

Scottish economy

Word document Economic Performance Indicators - January 2013 (Word, 302kbB)

PDF document Economic Performance Indicators presentation - April 2011 (PDF, 142kB) 

This paper examines the progress of the Scottish economy over time based on the performance of a small number of economic indicators. It compares Scotland's performance against these indicators with other European countries and UK regions.

Word document Exporting and Economic Growth - November 2010 (Word, 376kB)

The importance of exports and wider internationalisation is highlighted by recent research and evaluation studies commissioned by Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International. This paper summarises the major findings from this research, as well as an overview of Scotland’s recent exporting performance.

PDF document National Economic Review - June 2009 (PDF, 1.3MB)

This national review provides an overview of recent economic trends, progress towards the GES targets and an economic outlook for Scotland as a whole.

Local economy

Global economy

PDF document The Economic Performance of Finland 2007 (Word, 909kB)

This paper provides a brief overview of economic trends in Finland, with Scottish comparisons where available, and highlights the main factors behind recent performance.

PDF document The performance of the Massachusetts Economy May 2007 (Word, 223kB)

The Massachusetts and Boston city region economies rank highly in a number of benchmark indices and are often cited as examples of successful knowledge economies. The 2005 World Knowledge Competitiveness Index, which benchmarks the world's top "knowledge regions", ranks Boston second out of 125. Boston’s position is boosted by high productivity and GDP per head, driven in particular by high levels of R&D expenditure and equity finance. Scotland is ranked 83rd.