Business
South Africa economy still larger than Nigeria’s – though gap narrowing
A recent report entitled “Emerging Markets Opportunity Index: high growth economies” has ranked South Africa as the leading emerging economy on the African continent, with Nigeria a close second.
South Africa climbed one place to 14th in terms of global rankings in the Emerging Economies survey, while Nigeria climbed nine places to 17th. It is looking more likely that Nigeria’s economy will surpass South Africa’s in the next few years.
(More: Nigeria ‘to overtake South Africa’)
The Emerging Markets Opportunity Index brings together a number of key indicators including economic size, population, wealth, involvement in world trade, growth prospects and levels of development.
The report further revealed that inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into South Africa’s economy have been volatile over the past decade. They peaked at US$9 billion in 2008 before the financial crisis, recovering to US$6 billion in 2011. Inflows over the first half of 2012 were down 44 percent compared with the same period in 2011.
The only other two African countries to be ranked in the Emerging Markets Opportunity Index were Egypt (22nd) and Algeria (26th).