Government expenditure & revenue Scotland 2025-26

Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) is an Accredited Official Statistics publication. It estimates the revenue raised in Scotland and the cost of public services provided for Scotland.


5. Net Fiscal Balance

Figure 1: Net fiscal balance improved in 2025-26 as revenue grew faster than expenditure

Annual Net Fiscal Balance, 1998-99 to 2025-26, Percentage of GDP

The notional net fiscal balance measures the difference between total public sector expenditure and total public sector revenue. In the year to 2025-26

  • In 2025-26, Scotland’s net fiscal balance as a share of GDP was -10.9%, compared to -11.5% in 2024-25. This is an improvement of 0.6 percentage points for Scotland, whilst the UK deficit improved by 1.0 percentage points.
Table 5.1: Net Fiscal balance, Scotland and UK 2024-25 to 2025-26

Statistic

2024-25

2025-26

Annual change

Scotland (£ million)

-25,942

-25,304

638

Scotland - excluding North Sea (£ million)

-29,510

-28,457

1,054

Scotland (% of GDP)

-11.5%

-10.9%

0.6 p.p

Scotland - excluding North Sea (% of GDP)

-13.9%

-12.9%

1.0 p.p

UK (% of GDP)

-5.2%

-4.2%

1.0 p,p

p.p – percentage point

Supplementary Table

Additional online tables are published on the Scottish Government web site

Contact

Email: economic.statistics@gov.scot

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