The growth of Scotland's economy will be much slower over the next couple of years, according to experts.

The slow down is expected as existing headwinds are compounded by political and economic uncertainty, according to the EY Scottish ITEM Club 2017 Forecast.

The report predicts Scottish output growth for 2016 to be 0.7% and forecasts 0.4% for 2017. This compares with UK GDP growth rates of 1.9% and 0.8% respectively.

Modest growth is expected to return from 2018 but the future outlook will depend on the economic landscape as shaped by Brexit, potential policy changes brought by a Trump presidency and the implementation of extended powers to the Scottish Government over tax and revenue spend.

Consumer spending and investment drove the expansion of nominal GDP from mid-2015 but these bright spots of economic growth have faded.

With the saving ratio dropping to a record low and personal disposable income to drop 0.1%next year, consumer expenditure will be unable to buoy economic growth and business investment will suffer from the politically-driven uncertainties.

The recent fall in the value of the pound has led to a pick-up in manufacturing exports orders but the downside of the currency depreciation will show through in 2017 as rising import prices hit both business costs and consumers' pockets.

Dougie Adams, senior economic advisor to the EY Scottish ITEM Club said: "During the last 12 months Scottish growth has been challenged by various economic factors. The unsustainable growth from the construction sector has waned as expected and the impact of low oil prices continues to reverberate through the economy.

"A few sectors performed well in the first half of the year resulting in patchy growth with private services delivering the strongest performance at 2.6%, just shy of the UK's level of 3%.

"Although manufacturing output as a whole fell by 3.6 per cent the food and drink sub-sector surged by 9 per cent."

Mark Harvey, EY Senior Partner for Scotland, said: "From a Scottish perspective we would of course want to see growth boosted to be more in line with the UK.

"In a slower growing economy it will be harder to achieve more economic balance, not only on a UK level but across Scotland too.

"Although we can see pockets of growth in Scottish cities, little progress is likely to be made to increase these further and expand the output of the weaker cities in the short-term.

"UK and Scottish policy must be designed to complement local policy through targeted initiatives to support trade, deliver infrastructure, invest in skills and support growth in key sectors."