Forecasts of the Scottish economy [October 2006]

The outlook for the world economy remains promising despite some slowing of growth in the US. The US, Japan and China all performed relatively well and world trade growth is also strong. Most emerging economies are also growing robustly. The most important development is the clear strengthening of economic activity in the Euro Area where manufacturing has grown relatively strongly for two consecutive quarters. There are still some concerns over why German consumption is not growing faster than it is but overall in the Euro Area there is a strengthening of domestic demand