Ivan McKee

Business minister Ivan McKee told the Scottish Parliament that the export growth strategy, A Trading Nation, has delivered an additional £3 billion of planned international sales in its first three years. Goods exports are growing more quickly than the UK as a whole and Scotland is also the only part of the UK with a positive trade balance in goods with the rest of the world, exporting £2.2bn more than it imported in 2021.

A separate progress report on the Scottish Government’s Inward Investment Plan highlights that enterprise agencies attracted 113 inward investment projects and a total of 7,780 jobs in 2021-22, with 39 new investors choosing to locate here. The latest EY Annual Attractiveness Survey 2022 showed Scotland remains the most attractive part of the UK outside London for attracting foreign direct investment.

Ahead of his update to Parliament, Mr McKee visited the Tartan Blanket Co. in Edinburgh to hear how it was aiming to increase international sales.

The business minister said: “Despite unprecedented challenges for businesses and the economy, Scotland continues to punch above its weight on both exports and inward investment. A Trading Nation and our Inward Investment Plan have delivered important contributions to export growth and attracting inward investment to date. Delivery of these plans are key to Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

“The plans help build on Scotland’s strengths to win an ever-greater share of domestic and international market opportunities, support the development of Scottish supply chains, lay the foundations of a net zero industrial strategy, and attract and deploy significant domestic and private investment in Scotland.

“Scotland can take huge confidence – based on the progress reports and the growth of companies like The Tartan Blanket Co. – that our trade and investment strategies remain the right approach to growing exports and attracting inward investment in the years ahead.”

Neil Francis, interim managing director of Scottish Development International (SDI), the international arm of Scottish Enterprise, said: “Global trade and investment is absolutely vital to Scotland’s economy and achieving the sustainable economic growth we all want to see.

“These progress reports underscore the strengths Scotland has on the international stage, both in terms of the attractiveness of our companies to global markets and as a location for companies to invest, locate and grow in. Our SDI colleagues based here and in target markets across the world will continue to bang the drum for Scotland, highlighting the incredible investment opportunities that exist here while supporting Scottish companies, such as The Tartan Blanket Co., export their world-class products and services overseas.”