Scottish economic output or GDP has fallen by 3%, reducing the overall value of the economy by £5 billion.
The revision of the figures to £175 billion from £180 billion is revealed in the Scottish Government’s quarterly national accounts.
The accounts also show that the Scottish economic deficit of £12.6 billion has now risen to 7.2% of GDP, when it was previously 7%.
This downward revision moves Scotland further away from the European Union’s requirement that to join the EU, a state’s deficit must be no more than 3%.
The reduction is largely attributable to a revision in the value of North Sea oil and exacerbated by sluggish economic growth.
The GDP figures emerged at the weekend, having not been announced by the Scottish Government in its economic press release, nor were they available on the usual statistical website.
The figures were obtained by economist John McLaren, who contacted government officials to access them.
McLaren was quoted in The Sunday Times Scotland as saying: “The lack of analysis by ministers of the important revisions to Scottish economic data is worrying, if not entirely unexpected.
“A £5 billion – almost 3% – downwards revision in Scottish GDP has important implications for judging Scotland’s economic and fiscal standing, especially in terms of independence or full fiscal economy.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the downward revision of total GDP had been accompanied by an upward revision in the value of onshore GDP, which was up £85 million over 12 months.
