The Scottish economy improved last month as the country returned to growth during the first three months of the year.
Official statistics show Gross Domestic Product increased by 0.1 per cent during the first quarter of 2011. Despite being weaker than the UK's overall 0.5 per cent GDP growth, the rise helped prevent Scotland slipping into a double dip recession.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said although Scotland had lower unemployment, higher employment, and lower economic inactivity compared with the UK as a whole, there were "absolutely no grounds for complacency".
Disappointing retail figures for Scotland, also released today, show total sales for June remained unchanged against 2010 figures. Like-for-like sales were 1.8 per cent lower than a year ago.
According to the Scottish Retail Consortium, rising costs and low wage growth are continuing to hurt household budgets, making consumers even more reluctant to part with their money.
