AFP, Lagos :
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest oil producer, is set to emerge as the continent’s biggest economy on Sunday when the results of an overdue rebasing of its gross domestic product are announced.
Although United Nations statisticians recommend that countries rebase their GDP calculations every five years to reflect changes in the structure of production and consumption, Nigeria last carried out the exercise in 1990.
So the new figures expected to be unveiled by Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela and top government statisticians from 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) are expected to place Nigeria ahead of continental powerhouse South Africa as new and fast-developing sectors such as telecoms, music and local film industry, Nollywood, are considered in the GDP rebasing.
Following the adjustment, Nigeria’s economy is expected to increase by as much as 60 percent, taking it from $264 billion past South Africa’s $384 billion.
Nigeria, with 170 million people is about three times the size of South Africa, but its economy is the second-largest on the continent, after South Africa.
Africa’s leading crude producer has enjoyed high rates of growth, notwithstanding widespread corruption, poor governance, rampant oil theft and a raging Islamist insurgency in the north.
The annual growth rate averaged 6.8 percent from 2005 to 2013 and the economy is projected to grow this year at a rate of 7.4 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund.
