KATE Forbes said Scotland's economy is "recovering steadily" as new figures showed the country's GDP grew by 0.3% between August and September.
Meanwhile, the economy of the UK as a whole saw its GDP increase by 0.1% in the same period.
The Scottish Government said the report that the figures were drawn from showed that "slightly higher levels of growth since March 2024 may indicate a change in trend".
The Scottish economy, as well as the UK as a whole, have seen relatively little GDP growth since the start of 2022.
Forbes said: “Scotland’s economy is recovering steadily, having grown over the last three quarters”.
She added that it was “particularly encouraging” to see that output in the services sector – the largest part of the economy – was up 0.5%.
In a bid to drive up economic growth further she said she announced a “range of measures to increase the level of private investment into the economy, including a dedicated investment unit co-ordinated by a new Cabinet sub-committee”.
She added this would help “work better, smarter and quicker to create an investor-friendly environment and seize the many opportunities for growing the green economy while improving Scotland’s public services”.
Scotland's GDP increased 0.4% in the previous quarter, between April and June, with the UK's increasing by 0.5% during the same stretch.
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray meanwhile said economic growth was the “number one mission” of the UK Government.
The Labour MP added: “While we’ve continued to provide stability and take steps to fix the foundations, there’s a lot more we can do to ensure families feel the benefits of that growth sooner.”
