Africa has a new economic frontrunner. Nigeria has released figures suggesting the oil-rich country has overtaken South Africa in terms of gross domestic product. But do the numbers reflect reality?
Nigeria has long boasted the highest population in Africa, but now it is also officially home to the continent's strongest economy.
Recent calculations from the Nigerian statistics office estimate the value of the country's economy at around €369 billion ($509 billion) - nearly twice as high as previously thought. South Africa, long the economic frontrunner on the continent, has a GDP of €229 billion ($315 billion).But what may come as a shock to most laypeople is less surprising to some experts. The director of the Standard Chartered Bank's Africa department, Razia Khan, recently authored a study championing Nigeria's economic might.
"Nigeria's economy will achieve global relevance this year," Khan said in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
When advising clients who are planning investments in Africa, Khan is quick to express her enthusiasm about Nigeria.
"There is absolutely no way around it," she said.
But other observers are more cautious and even warn that the latest statistics should not be viewed as a precise appraisal of economic life in Nigeria, but rather as a forecast.
The new calculations are higher than before because parameters have been adjusted to reflect modern conditions for the first time since 1990. Revenues from the telecommunications industry, for instance, as well as the film industry Nollywood, have finally been included.
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