South Africa’s days as king of the African castle are numbered. In the new era it will all be about Nigeria. “It is imminent and Nigeria will be overtaking South Africa as the biggest economy on the continent – and in light of the country’s low growth rate it is not going to catch up to Nigeria any time soon,” said American economist David Hale. He said the ongoing revision of Nigeria’s GDP, which is supposed to happen every five years, is expected to be completed within the next few months. “This is the first time in years that they are doing it and once it’s completed the number 2 will overtake the number 1 and Nigeria will be the economic powerhouse in Africa.” He said with the country having announced some radical reforms last year, this was the start of bigger and better things for the West African nation. “They have faced some serious power issues and improving their power output was critical. Major steps have been taken to address this situation and their power output will increase tenfold over the next ten years,” said Hale. “This will boost the country’s growth from the current 6/7% rate to as high as 10%. In the next ten years its GDP will be at least 50% bigger than South Africa.” Hale said he would not be surprised if some serious questions were posed around whether South Africa should still be the top African country in the G20. “We expect people are going to start asking to see Nigeria there rather than South Africa.” Hale said the South African economy was languishing at present and in fact dragging down the growth rate of the entire sub Saharan region. INSERT Nigeria has increased its power output which will increase tenfold over the next ten years. – David Hale
