The latest Business Barometer from Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking reports that business confidence in Scotland rose six points during August to 34%, with the full easing of lockdown restrictions signalling a boost for businesses, with overall confidence in the economy also rising by 20 points to 43%.
The barometer questions 101 businesses in the Scotland out of a total of 1,200 UK businesses every month with the overall ‘balance’ of opinion weighing up the percentage of firms that are positive in outlook, against those that are negative.
Companies in Scotland also fed back fractionally lower confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, down eight points at 25%, with 20% of businesses expecting to increase staff levels over the next year, up seven points on last month.
Overall UK business confidence rose six points in August, reaching 36% – the highest level recorded since May 2018. When asked about their overall trading prospects, UK businesses reported a six-point increase on July’s reading at 34% and firms’ confidence in the economy also increased six points to 39%.