Nigeria Overtaking South Africa Masks Poverty Trap: Economy

As Nigeria gets richer, more Nigerians live in poverty. That’s the paradox of growth in Africa’s biggest oil producer, its most populous nation and which, as of March 31, may be its top-ranked economy.

The National Bureau of Statistics is recalculating the value of gross domestic product based on production patterns in 2010, the first time it’s overhauled the data in two decades. That may boost the size of the economy by as much as 60 percent to between $384 billion and $424 billion, according to London-based Renaissance Capital Ltd., putting Nigeria ahead of South Africa and close to Austria and Thailand in the World Bank’s global league table.