From How We Made It In Africa.

The way Nigeria calculates its gross domestic product will change in 2014, and when it does, it could “boost” the country’s GDP by about 40 percent, according to a report in How We Made It In Africa.

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, could soon have a $45 billion economy, equivalent to that of Ghana, according to Yvonne Mhango, an economist with Renaissance Capital.

Nigeria’s GDP is currently calculated by using 1990 as a base year, which does not account for rapid growth of services, telecoms and entertainment industries, Mhango reported. 

Anna Rosenberg, a senior analyst for sub-Saharan Africa at Frontier Strategy Group, said in the article Nigeria’s rebased GDP figures, when they are released, will likely make Nigeria the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, surpassing South Africa.

“Nigeria will surpass South Africa as the continent’s largest economy when GDP is revised upwards between 40-60 percent,” Rosenberg said. “It is unclear however, when the new figures will be released. But if GDP increases by 40 percent, Nigeria’s economy would swell from $275 billion to $385 billion. South Africa’s economic output is $378.9 billion.”

Lagos is Nigeria’s smallest but most densely populated state out of 36, comparable to South Africa’s smallest province, Gauteng, home of Johannesburg, according to the report.

Read more at How We Made It In Africa.