North Sea oil revenue report ‘stark reading’
The forecasts in the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) report predicts revenues of £11.1 billion this year, down from £13.4bn in the March forecast. The revenues will continue falling until 2015/16 when they will hit £7.2bn.
Scotland Office minister David Mundell said: “These OBR figures make stark reading and the downgraded forecast for oil revenue again shows the danger of building an economy on a volatile commodity.”
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Hide AdA spokesman for finance secretary John Swinney insisted the Scottish Government’s figures show that Scotland is regularly in a stronger financial position than the UK as a whole. He added that the OBR figures show that North Sea revenues this year, 2011/12, will be nearly double the level they were 2009/10.