Egypt Now No. 2 Economy In Africa

[Brian Yare]

South Africa, thought to be the continent’s No. 1 economy until early 2014 when Nigeria rebased its gross domestic product, must now give up its short-lived No. 2 spot to Egypt, according to a report by professional services company KPMG. - See more at:

http://afkinsider.com/125449/blame-the- ... -177131093

This does not say much for the rest of Africa IMHO!

[newcastle]

Unfortunately, the absolute size of a country's nominal GDP (which is what KPMG are listing) is no measure of the health of its economy although its growth, or decline, has some relevance.

Somewhat more meaningful is GDP per capita....where Egypt (113th out of 185 countries), at $3740, ranks well below several African states and, globally, is on a par with Tonga!

[Hafiz]

Newcastle is correct.

In reality the change is a mere book entry because the decline in the measurement of the South African economy is entirely due to the collapse of their currency versus the dollar. Smaller Rand therefore, on this measurement, means smaller economy relative to the dollar. Nevertheless, unlike some, their economy continues to expand in absolute terms, their inflation is one half of Egypt and they make a very good bottle of wine. In addition they claim to believe in economic individualism and therefore don't own (minimum) four banks (and used to own 40) or newspapers or hotels or insurance companies or, or. So you can be certain that their future is not going to be as bad as some state run command economies. Pity about their wretched President - I thought the previous one was as bad as you could get - but hell this is Africa, why not have 5 wives, 20 children, unprotected and non-consensual sex with HIV+ people and a $20 million private house (with helipad) paid for by the taxpayer etc. etc. He can't manage contraception and therefore can't manage their economy or currency which is why this has happened. This is not Egypt's victory this is South Africa's stuff up.

When Egypt devalues again, and the IMF continues to insist that the currency is overvalued (nearly 11le to the dollar on the black market as I write), Egypt will move again to third place. Its not as if there is any real competition from fourth so they are unlikely to fall beyond third in the short term.

A competition for the largest economy in Africa is a bit like a fat baby show - who cares - it doesn't mean anything - and fat babies are expensive to feed and will die early. Oh I'd forgotten the refrain of all dictators - mine is bigger than yours - which may justify the whole measurement thing.

More interesting than the absolute size of the economy, and getting closer to Newcastle's point, is the GDP per head adjusted for purchasing power parity - basically the standard of living you can buy taking into account local costs - and because the cost of living in Egypt is relatively cheap - Egypt comes out much higher on this table than its income per head in US dollars. On this measure its about the equivalent of an income of $US13,000 per head pa. Its a bit of a theoretical figure but at least illustrates that buying power varies from country to country. It's another example of the slippery nature of statistics and why (in measuring yourself) one measure is never enough - but interesting nevertheless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c ... per_capita