Scotland’s GDP grew by 0.4% in the first three months of 2023, outperforming the UK’s first quarter growth of 0.1%.

The higher growth is despite challenging economic circumstances faced by the entire country.

According to the Scottish government’s quarterly statistical publication and data for Q1 2023, the construction sector grew by 0.7%, the production sector increased by 0.8%, and output in the services sector grew by 0.2%.

The largest contribution to the change seen this quarter in Scotland is credited to growth in transport, storage, and communications services.

For comparison, the first quarter of 2022 saw Scotland’s GDP grow by 0.3%, while the UK and a whole saw growth of 0.2% during the same period.

Responding to the statistics, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “Our economic outlook is looking encouraging with the first quarter of this year showing strength due to the swift action of this Government to avoid recession.

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“The UK Government is creating jobs, boosting trade and encouraging investment with more than £2.2bn invested across Scotland to encourage prosperity. Our priority is to halve inflation, reduce debt and grow the economy for the benefit of the whole of the UK.”

However, the Scottish Fiscal Commission found earlier this month that despite GDP growth and falling unemployment, living standards are likely to fall in 2023-2024, largely due to inflation.

Indeed, Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray, as quoted by Insider, said that while the GDP statistics “demonstrates the resilience of the Scottish economy,” it is not necessarily a fully representative outlook.

“Enormous pressures remain across both the private and public sectors,” he said, according to Insider. “The cost-of-living crisis is impacting household and businesses’ ability to spend, which in turn affects the wider economy.”