Nigeria to Overtake South Africa as Continent’s Largest Economy

A poll by Reuters has found that Nigeria is likely to take South Africa’s position as the continent’s largest economy within the next two years. Nigeria’s GDP is projected to increase exponentially when it is rebased at the end of 2013 to reflect changes in the economy in the past two decades. Economic analysts believe that the rebasing could add up to 50 percent in GDP growth to Nigeria’s economy, thus giving it a nominal GDP of $375 billion – about the size of South Africa’s GDP. It is anticipated that increase in agricultural activity along with domestic demand will contribute to Nigeria’s economic growth, which will see it top the continent as the largest economy. Increase in unemployment and dwindling activity in the euro zone have been identified as some of the factors that would make South Africa vulnerable to dropping from the number one spot as Africa’s largest economy. The Nigerian economy has been gradually overtaking South Africa in speed of economic growth for some years now. In 2012, Nigerian economy recorded 6.6 percent growth while S.A managed between 2 and 3 percent growth. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed that the fastest growing sectors in the economy were retail and wholesale trades market, telecommunications, Nigeria’s central bank said the fastest growing segments were wholesale and retail trade and telecommunications. Population is another metric that also puts Nigeria at an advantage. Recent estimate pegs Nigeria’s population at 170 million people, making it the most populated country in Africa and third most populous nation globally. In contrast, South Africa’s population of 51.1 million poeple is below a third of Nigeria’s, making it the fifth largest populated country in the continent.