Officially Number 1! Nigeria is now Africa's largest economy

08 Apr 2014 Nigeria started the week with the information that the country is now Africa’s largest economy and 26th largest in the world, according to an announcement by Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Nigeria’s Finance Minister. The announcement was made after a long overdue rebase calculation ofNigeria’s GDP almost doubled it to 510 billion dollars.

Ventures Africa reports that the announcement was made based on data from Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics. We’re told that rebasing is done at least every three years by most countries as a way of ensuring that a nation’s GDP statistics give the most up-to-date picture of an economy as possible. However, the last time Nigeria updated the components in its GDP base year was 1990.
For the updated figures, sectors such as telecommunications, aviation, e-commerce and the film industry, Nollywood, have now been factored in to give a better and more accurate picture of the country’s economy.

Just in case you’re wondering if the money in your account has suddenly doubled, that’s not really how it works. According to Nigeria’s Chief Statistician, Yemi Kale, the figures should not be seen as an end in themselves; rather they should be thought of more as a guide to help the government shape policy for the future