There has been a welter of news on the Scottish economy in the last week.

Much of this has been less than cheerful, including official figures highlighting the impact of the ending of oil refining at the giant Grangemouth site on Scottish gross domestic product in May and a survey showing the ongoing effect of the hike in employers’ national insurance contributions.

However, while the stream of news has highlighted the headwinds for the Scottish economy and the challenges facing businesses, with much of the woe emanating from further afield, it has not been universally dismal.

Scotland’s onshore GDP contracted by 0.2% in May, according to data published on Wednesday by the chief statistician.

The Scottish Government chief economist directorate said: “In May, the largest negative contribution to headline GDP was in manufacturing, which contributed -0.4 percentage points to headline GDP. This was partly due to the cessation of oil refining activity at the Grangemouth oil refinery.”

Crude oil processing at Grangemouth ended on April 29, owner Petroineos confirmed at the time.

There was some good news in the latest GDP data, however. Scottish onshore GDP is now calculated to have risen by 0.1% in April, having previously been estimated to have declined by 0.2% in that month.

UK GDP fell by 0.1% in May, after declining 0.3% in April.

That said, Scottish GDP in the three months to May was down 0.4% on the December to February period.

And the........

© Herald Scotland