Foreign cash helps Scotland buck downturn

Published on Saturday 13 June 2009 14:50

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond will unveil figures tomorrow revealing that Scotland continues to attract higher-value jobs from overseas investors.

The headline figures will show 500 million of investment was pumped into the Scottish economy from existing and new investors who created or protected jobs despite the economic downturn.

The past year has produced 1,807 high-value jobs – defined as those paying above 31,000 a year – which is the third highest total since 2003. The highest was 2,578 in 2007-8.

While 80 per cent of jobs were secured from existing investors, Scottish Development International, the body charged with promoting Scotland's international business objectives, will take particular satisfaction in attracting 25 per cent of the total research and development projects drawn to the UK during the year.

Lena Wilson, chief executive of SDI and chief operating officer at Scottish Enterprise, said: "We are more than punching our weight."

She accepted that while the 500m did not match the 3 billion to 4bn figures that caught the headlines in the 1990s, it was a healthy reflection of today's inward investment market.

"It also does not take into account the multiplier effect of how much business is created further down the chain among suppliers and so on."

She is particularly encouraged that many of the investing firms are now anchored in Scotland because of the quality of the workforce. "Scotland is not a cheap location. It is about value," she said.

The publication of the SDI results precedes the update of the Scottish Government's Economy Recovery Programme tomorrow.

Salmond is expected to reference the performance of SDI and the Government's next steps under the Economic Recovery Programme during his address to the Forbes conference at Gleneagles. He will say that SDI has helped more than 800 Scottish firms expand internationally, 100 more than last year, highlighting the importance of exploring new markets in a downturn.

He will say: "Seventy-five per cent of our labour force is in employment despite the global recession. Unemployment is lower, employment is higher and activity rates are higher than the rest of the UK. Increasing sustainable economic growth is the overarching purpose of the Government and I know we can and will achieve this despite the current pressures."