Scotland’s gross domestic output (GDP) increased by 2.6% in August, according to statistics announced on Wednesday by the Chief Statistician.

This is the fourth consecutive month of increasing GDP following the large drops in March and April, but represents a slowdown from the increase of 6.4% in July.

GDP remains 9.4% below the level in February, prior to the impact of COVID-19.

In August, output in the services sector is estimated to have increased by 3.3% compared to July, but output in the production sector fell by 0.3%, and construction sector output increased by 3.8%.

These GDP statistics have been produced by the Scottish Government to help track the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are designated as “experimental” official statistics, which means that they are still in development but have been released to enable their use at an early stage.

All results are provisional and subject to relatively high levels of uncertainty.