Scottish firms battling fastest cost rises on record, says RBS

Scottish businesses are battling the fastest cost rises on record as energy bills and raw material prices continue to spike.

The latest Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) purchasing managers’ index (PMI) report for February recorded the steepest cost inflation in the survey’s history, with firms being forced to raise their own prices at record rates.

However, the report shows that businesses saw output accelerate to the fastest rate for three months. The seasonally adjusted headline business activity index – a measure of combined manufacturing and service sector output – rose to 55.5 in February, from 53.7 in January.