Nigeria has leap-frogged South Africa to become Africa’s biggest economy, worth $510 billion, figures revealed Sunday.
The Nigeria figures are from the first GDP recount of Africa’s biggest oil producer since 1990.
The International Monetary Fund had used the 1990 figures to estimate Nigeria’s GDP in 2013 at $292 billion, but that didn’t take into account new industries and technologies.
South Africa’s economy was valued at $353 billion, but is still still way ahead in terms of GDP per capita, infrastructure and governance, the Agence France-Presse reported.
Despite Sunday’s revelations, the last available World Bank figures from 2010 indicated that 84.5 percent of Nigeria’s population lived on less than $2 a day, AFP said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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