Isabelle Alenus-Crosby

There have been various reports in the news lately that the impressive GDP statistics posted by countries across Africa may actually be underestimations, and that the continent’s outlook could be even better than previously thought.

GDP growth is correlated to a variety of data, and if this data is sparse (which is still very much the case across Africa), whole swathes of economic activity can be overlooked. Simply put, growth is measured by comparing current data to the base year. But without sufficient data, many “new” sectors, such as mobile telephony, have nothing to be compared to. And these new sectors have been growing quickly and steadily across the entire continent for almost a decade.

Until 2010, Ghana was using a 1993 base year. When it was finally revised by the statistical office, GDP estimates rose by over 60 %, translating to approximately 13bn USD of economic activity. Nigeria’s base year is still set at 1990. An upward revision is therefore imminent and likely to be even more impressive than Ghana’s. In fact, economists are predicting that the GDP for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa will rise by at least 15 % in the next couple of years! Where’s the champagne?