BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 75

This is the 59th publication of weighted Scotland estimates from the ONS’ BICS. These are experimental statistics, which means that they are still in development. All results are provisional and subject to revision.

Latest main findings for businesses with 10+ employees and a presence in Scotland

• the main concerns for businesses for February 2023 were energy prices (27.1%) and inflation of goods and services prices (23.7%)
• switching electrical equipment to standby or off when not in use (26.2%) was the action most frequently reported by businesses to reduce their energy costs in Wave 75.  However, almost a third (33.2%) of businesses reported that they had not taken action to reduce their energy consumption
• the exporting and importing challenges that were most commonly reported to have increased in Wave 75 were changes in exchange rates, changes in transportation costs, and additional paperwork– this was the case for both exporting and importing
• an estimated 61.8% of applicable businesses reported that the cost of exporting has increased in December 2022 compared with December 2021