WBank: Rebased GDP Has Exposed Nigeria to Global Investors 13 Apr 2014 Font Size: a / A 130414F.IMF-Governors.jpg - 130414F.IMF-Governors.jpg IMF governors Ndubuisi Francis in Washington DC, USA The rebasing of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which placed the country as Africa’s largest economy, has exposed its investment potentials to the world, the Chief Economist (Africa Region) of the World Bank, Francisco Ferreira, has said. Last week’s rebased nominal GDP, which saw estimates for 2013 hitting $509.9 billion from $285. 56 billion, the World Bank chief said, had exposed sectors where Nigeria’s economy was recording dynamic growth, and therefore would be areas of attraction for investment inflows. Ferreira, who spoke with journalists at the sidelines of the ongoing World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC, United States of America, said prior to the rebasing exercise, nobody knew that the Nigerian economy was as big as it turned out to be. With the rebasing, he said, besides attracting investment into highly performing sectors, areas that have not been witnessing astronomical growth in recent years will also draw investors’ attention. Ferreira advocated an aggressive regional integration drive to drastically reduce cost among African countries, adding that a situation where different countries in the region pursue immigration and trade policies that hinder trade and movement was expensive and wasteful. Earlier in his presentation on Sustaining Growth in Africa: State of the Africa Nation, Ferreira said the African continent had recorded about 20 years of resilient growth with per capita rates hovering around 2.4 per cent in the last decade. According to him, everywhere on the continent, growth is investment-driven rather than consumption, a situation analysts say, portends good omen for Africa. He stated that fast-growing non-resource rich economies generally have solid balance of payment profiles, pointing out however, that there is no room for complacency. The World Bank chief noted that growth was uneven across countries, adding that what he described as growth spurt was not recorded in 22 countries over the 1995-2012 period. Among the 22 fast growers are oil producing countries, including Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Sudan and Chad, while non-oil resource nations in the fast growers scale are Liberia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and Zambia. In the category of non-resource rich fast growers are Mauritius, Cape Verde, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Rwanda, Lesotho, Ethiopia and Central African Republic. The Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, who announced Nigeria’s new GDP last week said it stands at $510 billion, and, according to him, this makes Nigeria the largest economy in Africa. He also revealed that the size of the economy was estimated at N80.3 trillion ($491 billion) for 2013. That compares with the World Bank’s 2012 GDP figures of $262.6 billion for Nigeria and $384.3 billion for South Africa. Kale explained that: The rebasing exercise reveals that the nominal GDP in 2010 was reversed from N33.9 trillion to N54.2 trillion. That is an increase of 59.5 per cent. It was reversed from N34.4 trillion in 2011 to N63.3 trillion. That is an increase of 69.1 per cent, and from N40.5 trillion to N71.1 trillion in 2012. That is an increase of 75.58 per cent. We estimated that in 2013, it was reversed from N42.3 trillion to N80.3 trillion, an increase of 89.22 per cent.’’ The statistician-general said the results also revealed that in 2010, agriculture share of GDP was estimated at 23.96 per cent, compared with 30.03 per cent in the old series. Industry has dropped from 46.08 per cent to 25.81 per cent and service has more than doubled to over 50 per cent from 23 per cent in the old series. We can see that the structure of Nigerian economy has changed significantly,’’ he said. The GDP index is the total value of a country’s goods and services over a period of time. GDP Rebasing is a normal statistical procedure undertaken by the national statistical offices of countries to ensure that national accounts statistics present the most accurate reflection of the economy as possible. The last time Nigeria rebased its GDP was in 1990. The new calculation, released by the statistics bureau, now includes previously uncounted industries like telecoms, information technology, music, online sales, airlines, and film production. Explaining the concept of GDP and how it is calculated, in a presentation on the process of rebasing the nation’s GDP, Kale noted that rebasing does not imply new figures only, but shows clearly the performance of the economy in data form. He noted that rebasing and re-benchmarking of the GDP was just one of the things the country needs to get its statistics right.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 07:41:59 +0000
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