 GDP measures the amount of money spent, Greens said. |
The Scottish Greens have criticised the way that economic development is measured by the Scottish Executive. The party said that Gross Domestic Product was a "crude" method which showed a "lamentable lack of both vision and ambition".
Nationalists agreed that GDP was not an accurate reflection of performance.
Deputy Enterprise Minister Allan Wilson said the executive's top priority of economic growth would not come at the expense of more general development.
Natural resources
Green MSP Mark Ruskell told the Scottish Parliament that GDP had failed in several ways.
He said that it could not tell the difference between beneficial expenditure and spending that was harmful.
Mr Ruskell also said GDP was oblivious to the inequalities of wealth distribution, that it failed to take account of non-monetary issues such as volunteering and treated depleting natural resources, such as oil, as income.
Scottish National Party enterprise spokesman Jim Mather said: "Economic growth is the key to living standards and improving quality of life and I feel that to neglect economic growth is to create more inequalities between Scotland and elsewhere."
Mr Wilson said the executive's ambition was to provide every Scot with opportunities.
"Opportunities for good jobs, fulfilling careers, safe communities, all of which must be achieved in an international economic environment which have sustainable development at the heart of our economic development agenda," he said.
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