New statistics show Scottish manufactured exports have maintained their steady performance despite the global economic slowdown, Enterprise Minister Jim Mather said today.

He was commenting on statistics which show Scottish manufactured export sales remained static in real terms in the second quarter of 2008 and fell by 0.1% over the year to the end of June.

He said: "At a turbulent time for economies worldwide, Scottish manufactured exports are maintaining their solid performance.

"The economies of Scotland's key export destinations - the Euro area and United States - have been hit by global events but demand for Scottish products remains stable, with the engineering sector among those performing well and growing over the last quarter.

"Nevertheless, in spite of this and encouraging signs of resilience in the Scottish economy, we cannot insulate ourselves from the effects of global economic conditions. That's why this Government will not just sit back and wait for things to improve.

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"We are committed to creating the right business conditions to help our companies through current international difficulties to ensure they can make a full contribution towards our goal of increased sustainable economic growth."

The Government are reducing and removing business rates for 150,000 small businesses, providing record support to an enterprising third sector, funding improvements in Scotland's connectivity and have refocused and reinvigorated enterprise agencies.

"With greater financial powers at our disposal we could do even more. But the measures we are taking will help make Scotland a more competitive place to do business and support companies who export products abroad," added Mr Mather.

Over the year, Scottish manufactured export sales fell by 0.1 per cent compared to the previous year. This decline is due to an exceptionally strong growth in manufactured export sales in the second quarter of 2007 in the Engineering and Allied Industries sector. This has overshadowed steady export sales growth in a number of other manufacturing industries in Scotland.

Scotland's labour market continues to outperform the UK's - with the latest data for May-July showing higher employment (76.3% compared to 74.7%); higher activity rates (79.8% compared to 79.2%); and lower unemployment (4.2%, compared to 5.5%).

House prices in Scotland have grown by 2.7% in July since the start of this year - while the rest of the UK has seen a 1.8% fall in house prices.

Growth in Scotland has matched or surpassed that of the UK in each of the three previous comparable quarters (Q3 07, Q4 07 and Q1 08) and the Scottish economy is expected to continue to grow into next year (growing by 0.8%; 0.6%; and 0.3% respectively, compared to the UK's growth of 0.5%; 0.5%; and 0.3%).

(GK/JM)