Scottish Economic Bulletin - August 2026

Output

Scottish economic growth strengthened in the 3-months to May to its highest rate since March 2025.

• Scotland’s GDP grew 0.6% in the three months to May 2026 (UK: 0.7%), with growth strengthening from 0.2% in the 3-months to April and 0.1% in the 3-months to March. Over the past year, Scotland’s GDP has grown by 1.2% (UK: 1.1%).^[1],[2]

• At a sector level, growth was broad based across the services (0.5%), production (1.0%), and construction (1.5%) sectors.
• Service sector growth strengthened to its highest 3-monthly rate this year. Within the sector, consumer facing services growth strengthened to 1.1% over the 3-months (from 0.4% in the 3-months to April) partly reflecting a pick-up in retail (1.4%) offsetting a further fall in accommodation and food services (-0.3%). Over the past year, services output has grown 1.5%.
• Production sector growth over the 3-months was its strongest since February 2025 and was driven by an increase in growth in electricity and gas supply (4.7%) and water supply and waste management (4.8%). This offset a fall in output from mining and quarrying industries (-2.6%) and flat growth in Manufacturing (0.0%). Over the past year, production output has grown 1.1%.
• The construction sector grew at its highest rate since August 2023 with growth continuing to strengthen from a sharp fall in output through the turn of the year. However, over the past year, construction output has fallen 1.5%.