NIGERIA REBASES GDP, SURPASSES SOUTH AFRICA AS THE LARGEST ECONOMY IN AFRICA.

Nigeria has overtaken South Africa as the largest economy in Africa, following a rebasing calculation which nearly doubled the country’s gross domestic product.

Statistician General of the Federation, Dr Yemi Kale, who announced this in Abuja today, at a special conference on Nigeria's rebasing, revealed that the Gross domestic product (GDP) for 2013 in Nigeria, now totalled eighty-point-three-trillion naira, or five hundred and nine-point-nine-billion dollars, an increase from the 42.3 trillion naira estimated before the rebasing.

The new figure however shrank Nigeria's debt-to-GDP ratio to eleven-percent for 2013, against nineteen percent in 2012. 

Dr Kale added that growing attention from foreign investors has made it imperative for the country to more accurately calculate its statistics, including GDP, adding that the base year would now be recalibrated every five years, in line with global norms.

Nigeria which has not rebased its GDP for over 15 years will rebase again in 2015 and publish the result in 2016, while the National Bureau of Statistics will measure the economy every five years.

Meanwhile, Minister of finance and co-ordinating Minister of the Nigeria Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria will attract more Foreign Direct Investment following the rebasing of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

Okonjo-Iweala told newsmen in Abuja that with the re-calculation of the country’s GDP which has been long overdue, the federal government will be able to accommodate the new information for policy implementation and infrastructural development.

She said Nigeria made progress in new sectors like the telecommunications, Small and Medium scale enterprises, (SME), the entertainment industry (Nollywood), and education, as well as professional and technical services, construction, the creative sector and other service activities.  

Rebasing or re-benchmarking of the national account series (GDP) is the process of replacing an old base year to compile volume measures of GDP with a new and more recent base year or price structure. The last rebasing was done in 1990.