Scottish economic bulletin: February 2026

Output

The Scottish economy grew 0.3% in the 3-months to November, supported by a pick-up in production sector growth.

• The latest GDP data for November indicates that the pace of 3-monthly growth remained broadly stable during the second half of 2025 to that point.
• Scotland’s GDP grew 0.3% in the 3-months to November, unchanged from growth in the 3‑months to October. Growth was driven by activity in September, which grew by 0.8%, before falling back in October (-0.2%) and November (-0.4%).^[1]
• In the second half of the year to November, 3-monthly growth in Scotland was slightly stronger than at a UK level with UK output rising 0.1% in the 3-months to November. However, growth was broadly in line over the year, with growth of 1.4% in Scotland and 1.3% at a UK level.^[2]

• At a sector level, growth over the three months was driven by the services (0.3%) and production (0.7%) sectors, offsetting a fall in construction output (-1.1%).
• The pace of growth in the services sector remained stable in the 3-months to November, however moderated during the fourth quarter compared to earlier in the year and to its slowest rates since the end of 2024. Growth in some service industries improved in November, including professional, scientific and technical services (2.1%) and retail (1.9%). However accommodation and food services output fell 1.3% and financial and insurance activities output fell 0.2%. At a broader level, consumer facing services output growth slowed to 0.2% over the 3-months.
• In contrast, growth in the production sector increased modestly over the three months to November (0.7%) and to its fastest rate since February 2025. There was mixed performance across production industries with growth in manufacturing (0.5%), electricity and gas supply (1.9%), and water supply and waste management output (2.4%), while mining and quarrying output fell 1.6%.

• Despite this slight change in growth pattern recently, Scotland’s annual growth of 1.4% reflected growth in services (2.2%) and construction (0.7%) offsetting a fall in production (‑2.2%).