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Scottish economy: Figures show deficit rise Scottish economy: GERS figures show Scottish deficit rise
(35 minutes later)
Scotland's deficit in the last financial year was almost £15bn - just under 10% of economic output, figures have shown. Scotland's public spending was almost £15bn more than its tax revenue in the last financial year, new figures show.
For the third year in a row, the Scottish figure is higher than the deficit for the UK as a whole, which is just under 5% of economic output. The amount spent per head was £1,400 per person higher than the UK figure, according to the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) bulletin for 2014-15.
The statistics come from the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) bulletin for 2014-15. The deficit ran to almost 10% of Scotland's output - nearly double the level for the UK as a whole.
Ministers insisted the foundations of the Scottish economy remained strong.Ministers insisted the foundations of the Scottish economy remained strong.
The figures contain details of the Scottish economy up to April 2015 and are the first to reflect the sharp fall in oil and gas revenues. The figures reflect a sharp drop in the calculation of oil and gas tax revenues that might have been credited to Scottish government income.
They show the net fiscal balance for the year, which is the difference between current revenue and total public expenditure. The annual GERS figures show income from tax was £10,000 per person.
It reports a deficit of £16.7bn, excluding North Sea oil revenue. That includes a geographic share of oil revenue from around the Scottish coast. It represented 8.2% of revenue - slightly below the UK figure.
When an "illustrative share" of North Sea oil revenue was included, the deficit was £14.9bn - 9.7% of GDP. Plummeting profits
For the UK as a whole, the deficit was £89bn, or 4.9% of GDP. Expenditure was £12,800 per person, or 9.3%. That was £1,400 per person more than the UK average.
The figures are produced by Scottish government economists, independently of ministers.
They are widely used to inform the debate about Scotland's potential for independence or for the full range of tax-raising powers.
They looked much more positive when oil and gas tax revenue was in the billions. But with the fall in the price of oil and gas, as well as high levels of investment, producer profits have plummeted, and taxes with them.
Excluding North Sea revenue, the deficit ran to £16.7bn, or 11.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the key measure of total economic output.
Including a geographic share of offshore tax revenue, the 2014-15 deficit was £14.9bn, or 9.7% of GDP.
Long-term returns
For the UK, the equivalent measure was a deficit of £89bn. That was 4.9% of GDP.
In actual money spent, Scottish revenue including a share of oil and gas tax was £53.4bn, while expenditure on all aspects of government activity in Scotland, both devolved and reserved, ran to £68.4bn.
The scale of the deficit looks less daunting when capital expenditure is removed. That is sometimes done to measure spending without the investment element that provides longer-term returns.
On that measure, the current spending deficit for 2014-15 was £11.9bn, according to GERS - or 7.8% of GDP, compared with a UK figure of 3.3%.
As a benchmark of a sustainable level of deficit, the rules for eurozone membership require deficits to be no more than 3% of GDP.