SCOTLAND’S economy is set for a dramatic rebound from the Covid pandemic, growing more than 10 per cent this year, according to Holyrood’s independent budget watchdog.
In its latest forecast, the Scottish Fiscal Commission said it expected GDP to return to its pre-Covid level by the second quarter of 2022, almost two years earlier than expected.
However the Commission also warned spending on devolved social security was set to climb by hundreds of millions of pounds and inflation was also set to rise sharply.
Overall, however, the watchdog said it was “good news” for the economic outlook.
In its January forecast, in the midst of lockdown, the Commission forecast GDP growth of 2% in 2021 and 7% in 2022, with a return to a pre-Covid sized economy in 2024.
Both assumptions have been revised in light of the economy rebounding faster than anticipated because of the success of the vaccination programme and lockdown ending.
Commission’s chair Dame Susan Rice, said: “We now expect the Scottish economy to grow by 10.5 per cent in 2021/22, mainly…
