SCOTLAND'S economy would have benefitted more from independence in the past 30 years than devolution, according to new research.
Independence campaign organisation Believe in Scotland compared the GDP of 34 territories that have become independent countries since 1990.
Of the countries formed since 1990, eight have become members of the EU, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
But not all of the countries adopted the Euro. Croatia and the Czech Republic introduced their own currency after independence. In May 1994 the Croatian Kuna replaced the Dinar, as part of the government’s stabilisation programme that followed Croatia’s involvement in the Bosnia-Herzegovina war. This stabilisation programme and the introduction of the Kuna brought inflation down from the 1993 rates of 1616% to 1.0% in 1994 and 3.7% in 1995. Since the introduction of the Croatian Kuna, it has remained stable.
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The figures show that on average the newly independent countries that have joined the EU have a GDP growth rate of 2.84%. Those that have joined the EU and adopted the Euro have an average of 3.07%. Those countries that are members of the EU but have their own currency averaged at 2.15%.
The average GDP growth since independence across independent countries that are not part of the EU is 2.68%.
Among those countries that have created their own currency, it is 3.09%. This suggests that the introduction of a new currency after independence may benefit GDP growth rates.
Since devolution was introduced until the present day, Scotland’s GDP growth rate averages at 1.4% which is significantly lower than the averages across the many newly formed countries, both within and outside of the EU.
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