Scotland’s economy won’t fully recover from financial crash until 2014 - report

SCOTLAND is not expected to get back to the prosperity levels it enjoyed before the financial crash until 2014, the country’s chief economist today warned.

But Gary Gillespie said that Scotland could return to those pre-recession growth levels before the rest of the UK because Scots are saving more, in his State of the Economy report.

It prompted finance secretary John Swinney to repeat his calls for u-turn from Chancellor George Osborne to see billions pumped into the ailing construction industry and tackle the double dip recession.

Today’s report finds that ongoing uncertainty in the Eurozone means cast a shadow over any prospect of recovery in Scotland.

“The economy in Scotland is demonstrating a greater resilience than the UK, but global growth is forecast to remain subdued for the rest of this year, with improvements occurring through 2013,” Mr Swinney said.

“We need the Chancellor to take action - follow Scotland’s lead - and borrow an extra £5 billion to invest in capital projects which would guarantee Scotland’s £400 million plus share would be allocated in this financial year.”

But Labour finance spokesman Ken Macintosh said: “This report shows how little impact the SNP’s much publicised economic interventions have had.

“Whilst much of the blame can rightly lie at the door of 11 Downing Street, that’s no excuse for the SNP’s failure to address the real issues in Scotland’s economy.”