SCOTLAND’S economy has shrunk by almost a quarter since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, grim new figures have shown.

Statistics released in a report by the Scottish Government on Wednesday morning, estimated that GDP has fallen by 23% since February.

This includes an 18.9% drop in April - the first full month of the lockdown.

And even in March - where Scotland was only in lockdown for the final week - the economy is estimated to have contracted by 5%.

It's the first time, the monthly GDP figure has been published by the government and ministers were keen to stress that the statistics should be seen as experimental.

In the production sector, output is estimated to have fallen 18.8% in April and 4.6% in March - while in manufacturing the drop was 25% over the two months.

For construction, the fall in output was estimated as being 39.8% in April, after a drop of 6.2% in March.

In the service sector - which makes up the bulk of Scotland's economy - output was said to have declined by 17.6% in April after a fall of 5% in March.

Here the report said "sharp falls" in some areas had been "partially offset" by growth among supermarkets and online retailers.

But the worst two affected sectors, according to the report, were the accommodation and food sector, which has slumped by 85% over the two months, and the arts, culture and recreation sector which has seen a 51% fall.

Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "The coronavirus pandemic is having an extremely serious impact on the economy right across the UK and - as these figures demonstrate - Scotland is no exception."

She called for the Scottish Parliament to be "granted the additional powers it needs to properly manage the response to the crisis".

Quarterly GDP figures covering the period January to March were also published yesterday. These revealed  that Scotland's economy shrunk by 2.5% in real terms in the first three months of the year.

On Monday, it emerged unemployment in Scotland had increased by 30,000 over the period February to April to stand at 127,000.

Andrew Wilson, the author of the SNP’s growth commission report warned that there would be difficult times ahead.

He told the BBC: “What’s clear to me is the UK is set to be the worst-performing economy in the developed world and Scotland’s probably going to be a bit worse because of the nature of our sectors and how the virus has behaved north and south of the border.”

He added: “I think this is a long-haul back, not a V-shaped bounce back at all.
“I think the prospects are that we need a monumental effort - politicians and governments working in collaboration - to get the measures we need in place to rescue businesses.

“Because the outlook for people, for families is bleak.”