The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sunday declared a new Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figure of N80.3 trillion ($509.9b), making Nigeria the largest economy in Africa. Nigeria’s Statistician-General, Yemi Kale, disclosed that the recalculated figures makes Nigeria the 26th largest economy in the world and number one in Africa, overtaking South Africa. Calculated on a per capita basis, Nigeria occupies the 121st position in the world.
“The next rebasing will be in 2015 and the results will be out in 2016, we also intend to measure the economy every five years,” the statistician said noting that the rebasing of Nigeria’s economy was last done more than two decades ago.
Kale also stated that the new figure “does not mean that within 24 hours something miraculous has happened and we are better or worse off…We were able to capture more of the informal economy.”
Some industries like telecoms, information technology, music, online sales, airlines, and film production, that were previously unaccounted have now been calculated to derive the current figure which shrank Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio to 11 percent for 2013, against 19 percent in 2012.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed “the work that was done by the Chief Statistician and his team was subjected to review by a panel of six Nigerian experts; Professor Olu Ajakaye, Professor Akpan Expo, Dr. Ayo Teriba, Dr Doyin Salami, Profesor Garba and Dr, Yemi Fagbeunsi.
“The Statistician(s) had all along an IMF Consultant working with them because that is the key job of the multilaterals, particularly the IMF (International Monetary Fund). We later subjected the numbers again to checks through a team of multilateral institutions. The African Development Bank, the World Bank and the IMF, all took a look, so it’s been quite a rigorous process,” she said.
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