Economy about 5% bigger after rebasing, widening SA's lead over Nigeria

South Africa’s economy is estimated to be about 5% larger than previously reported after a benchmarking and rebasing exercise, its statistics agency said on Thursday, moving it further ahead of Nigeria as Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest economy.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said last year’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP) was now estimated at R8.04tn (about $483bn), up from R7.64tn. Nigeria, the region’s second-largest economy, recorded a nominal GDP of 441.5tn naira ($328bn) last year.

Nigeria used to have the bigger economy in dollar terms, but devaluations of the naira allowed South Africa to overtake it, Kopani Gumbi reports for Reuters.

Statistics agencies worldwide rebase and benchmark their GDP estimates to take account of changes in the composition of the economy and other factors. In this latest exercise, South Africa moved the base year for its GDP calculations to 2022 from 2015.

It also incorporated previously unobserved parts of the economy, including self-generation of electricity, illicit and illegal mining and manufacturing activity, and e-hailing services.

All 10 sectors the agency tracks were shown to have higher output, with mining, finance and trade recording the largest increases.

Johann Els, chief economist at the financial services firm PSG, said the revisions would make South Africa’s debt numbers look better, in particular its closely watched debt-to-GDP ratio, which the government is trying to bring down.

Sources: Reuters, 29 October 2026; Stats SA.