Scotland's budget deficit has fallen to a seven-year low but remains larger as a share of the economy than budgets in the rest of Britain, official figures showed on Wednesday - figures that were seized on by opponents of Scottish independence.
Scottish public spending was 13.6% higher per head than the average for the United Kingdom, the biggest margin since records began in 1998-99. Revenue collected in Scotland was 2.6% lower per head than the UK average. During Scotland's 2015 independence campaign, the public debate included arguments whether Scotland's high public spending could be sustained. The country ultimately voted to remain part of the United Kingdom.
However, its pro-independence first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that she wants to hold a second referendum because of Brexit.
Wednesday's figures showed Scotland's net fiscal balance, including revenues from North Sea oil in its territorial waters, dropped to 12.6 billion pounds ($15.3 billion), or 7.0% of gross domestic product in 2018/19, down from 8.1% in 2017/18.
This was the lowest since 2010/11, but exceeds the equivalent deficit for the United Kingdom as a whole, which stood at 1.1% of GDP, down from 2.0% in 2017/18. Across advanced economies, the average budget deficit was 2.1% in 2018.
Scotland - which accounts for about a tenth of Britain's population and economic output - is now responsible for more than half of the United Kingdom's total government borrowing in cash terms. The Scottish government's finance secretary, Derek Mackay, focused on the reduction in borrowing.