The world is in a more precarious state than at any point in recent decades and that is taking its toll on the UK economy, yet there are still reasons for optimism in the Scottish business community.

One is that despite inflationary threats, there are growing expectations that the Bank of England (BoE) may start to move faster on lowering interest rates and bringing down the cost of borrowing. This would provide some welcome respite to both businesses and consumers.

Writing earlier this week, Aviva Investors senior economist Vasileios Gkionakis noted that while members of the BoE's monetary policy committee kept rates steady at 4.25% at their most recent meeting, the vote was a "dovish" split. A third of the nine members were in favour of a 0.25 point cut, and there was a general acknowledgement that some slack is finally opening up in the labour market which should ease upward pressure on wages.

"In our baseline, we still expect a quarterly pace of cuts as the BoE continues to assess the........

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