Scotland’s GDP increased by 0.6% in October, according to statistics announced on Friday by the Chief Statistician.

This is the sixth consecutive month of increasing GDP, but output remains 5.7% below the level in February before the direct impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October, there was growth of 2.7% in the production sector and 1.2% in the construction sector, but zero growth overall in the services sector.

While there was growth in most of the services subsectors, this was offset by a fall in accommodation and food services as local restrictions on business opening began to be applied across health board areas in the central belt of Scotland.

Within the production sector, total manufacturing output is estimated to have recovered to above the pre-pandemic level in February, although this does vary between different manufacturing industries.

Electricity and gas output has also returned to a level higher than seen in February.