Scottish North Sea Revenue Hits US$1.6 billion

Scottish public sector revenue was estimated as US$76.7 billion (£59.6 billion) in 2017-18, of which US$1.6 billion (£1.3 billion) was North Sea revenue.

That is according to the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) publication, which highlighted that non-North Sea revenue jumped 3.6 percent in 2017-18 compared with 2015-16.

Scotland’s share of North Sea revenue increased from US$342 million (£266 million) in 2016-17, the latest GERS report highlighted.

Including North Sea revenue, Scotland’s 2017-18 public sector revenue is equivalent to US$14,242 (£11,052) per person, US$394 (£306) less than the UK average, the GERS figures revealed.

Excluding North Sea revenue, it is US$13,928 (£10,808) per person, US$686 (£533) less than the UK average.

Total expenditure for the benefit of Scotland by the Scottish Government, UK Government, and all other parts of the public sector was US$94.5 billion (£73.4 billion) in 2017-18, according to the GERS report.

“On the back of continued economic growth and rising revenue, Scotland’s deficit fell again in 2017-18,” Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a government statement.

“With the limited economic powers currently at our disposal, the actions we are taking to promote sustainable economic development are helping to ensure that the key economic indicators are moving in the right direction,” Ms Sturgeon added.

The aim of GERS is to enhance public understanding of fiscal issues in Scotland. The primary objective is to estimate a set of public sector accounts for Scotland through detailed analysis of official UK and Scottish Government finance statistics.

GERS is a National Statistics publication, which means that it is produced independently of Scottish Ministers and has been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority as being produced in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Source: Rigzone