Big infrastructure projects such as the new Forth bridge and the Borders railway have helped the Scottish economy to enjoy its longest period of uninterrupted growth since 2001, according to a report published yesterday.
John Swinney, the finance secretary, hailed the results as a vindication of his decision to drive investment into major public building projects.
The sustained growth in the Scottish economy was disclosed in a report by Gary Gillespie, the Scottish government’s chief economist. He said that Scotland had now enjoyed 11 consecutive quarters of uninterrupted growth but there was some evidence that this might slow in the months ahead as a number of big projects came to an end.
He also warned that the economy might struggle to keep pace with consumer spending, particularly with warnings of interest rates rising soon and savings’ levels declining.
Mr Gillespie stressed that, overall, Scotland’s position remained positive.
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Forecasts point to a positive outlook for Scotland’s economy for the rest of this year with growth of about 2.4 per cent predicted for 2015.
Mr Swinney said that the SNP government had taken the right approach by prioritising big projects and bringing forward capital budgets to pay for them.