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Nigeria Economy worth $510bn now biggest in Africa(Guardian (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Revised GDP figures show Nigeria's economy is worth $510bn (pounds 307bn), by far the biggest in Africa, although nearly 70% of its citizens still live in poverty. The recalculated estimate of Nigeria's GDP adds previously uncounted industries like telecommunications, IT, music, airlines, online retail outlets and film production that did not exist when the last GDP count was made in 1990. South Africa's GDP of $353bn was previously the biggest on the continent. Finance minister, Ngozi Ikonjo-Iweala, said that the recalculation makes Nigeria the 26th largest economy in the world and raises its per capita income to $2,688. The revised figures will lower its growth rate of 7% but also will decrease an already low debt to GDP ratio of 21%, which should lower government interest rates, economists said. Financial analyst Bismarck Rewane said: "The population is not better off because of that announcement. It changes nothing." AP Lagos (c) 2014 Guardian Newspapers Limited. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] |