Scottish business

Economy of Scotland

Edinburgh: Scotland's capital city
Currency	Pound Sterling (GBP£)
Fiscal year	1 September – 31 August
Trade organisations	EU, WTO, OECD
Statistics
GDP	$233.332 billion (Nominal; 2015 est.) (including revenues from North Sea oil and gas)
GDP growth	0.0% (Q4 FY2015 – Q4 FY2016)
GDP per capita	$43,410 (including revenues from North Sea oil and gas)
GDP by sector	Agriculture: 1% Construction: 6% Production: 18% Services: 75% (2016 est.)
Inflation (CPI)	1.6% (YTD January 2017)
Population below poverty line	15% (UK, 2014 est.)
Gini coefficient	0.332 (UK, 2015)
Labour force	2,610,000 (2017 est.)
Unemployment	4.7%
Average gross salary	£2,480 / €3,373 / $3,814 monthly (2014)
Average net salary	£1,730 / €2,064 / $2,793 monthly (2011)
Main industries	Agriculture, Banking & Finance, Computing, Construction, Defence, Electronics, Emergency Services, Fishing, Food & Drink, Forestry, Life Sciences, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Shipbuilding, Textiles, Tourism, Transport
Ease-of-doing-business rank	7th (UK)(2017)
External
Exports	£78.6bn (2015 figures.)
Export goods	Aerospace & Naval Systems, Barley, Automobiles, Business & Financial Services, Chemical Products, Computers, Computer Software, Electricity, Electronics, Fish, Confectionery, Oil & Gas, Pharmaceuticals, Renewable Energy, Scotch Whisky, Ships, Textiles, Timber, Water
Main export partners	Rest of  United Kingdom Rest of  European Union  United States
Main import partners	Rest of  United Kingdom Rest of  European Union  United States
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

Agriculture: 1%
Construction: 6%
Production: 18%
Services: 75%

The economy of Scotland had an estimated nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of up to £152 billion in 2015. Since the Acts of Union 1707, Scotland's economy has been closely aligned with the economy of the rest of the United Kingdom (UK) and England has historically been its main trading partner. Scotland still conducts the majority of its trade within the UK: in 2014, Scotland's exports totalled £76 billion, of which £48.5 billion (64%) was with constituent nations of the UK, £11.6 billion with the rest of the European Union (EU), and £15.2 billion with other parts of the world.

Scotland was one of the industrial powerhouses of Europe from the time of the Industrial Revolution onwards, being a world leader in manufacturing. This left a legacy in the diversity of goods and services which Scotland produces, from textiles, whisky and shortbread to jet engines, buses, computer software, ships, avionics and microelectronics, as well as banking, insurance, investment management and other related financial services. In common with most other advanced industrialised economies, Scotland has seen a decline in the importance of both manufacturing industries and primary-based extractive industries. This has, however, been combined with a rise in the service sector of the economy, which has grown to be the largest sector in Scotland.

Government involvement in Scotland's economy is on the whole exercised by the UK Government and the Scottish Government via HM Treasury, respectively headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy, representing those two administrations which are responsible for reserved and devolved matters respectively. Since 1979, management of the UK economy (including Scotland) has followed a broadly laissez-faire approach. The Bank of England is Scotland's central bank and its Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for setting interest rates. The currency of Scotland is the Pound Sterling, which is also the world's third-largest reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. Scotland (as a constituent nation of the UK) is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the European Union, the G7, the G8, the G20, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the United Nations.