The Royal Bank of Scotland Growth Tracker – a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-<br />month change in the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors –rose from 46.9 in<br />December to 49.6 in January, offering some signs of optimism for Scotland’s business sector in 2025. The<br />softer contraction in private sector output was driven by a renewed uplift in services activity but partly offset a<br />further decline in manufacturing production.<br />Scottish firms continued to shed jobs at the start of 2025, after December data signalled a drop in employment<br />for the first time in almost two years. Services joined manufacturing in registering lower staffing.<br />Scottish private sector companies once again reported a decrease in new work intakes in January, with<br />companies signalling lower client demand relating this to greater uncertainty about domestic economic<br />conditions. The upcoming NI rise was also stated to have led customers to clamp down on spending.<br />Overall input prices rose at their sharpest pace since August 2023, with both services and manufacturing<br />recording a steeper rate of inflation than in December.
