According to a 21st June 2021 Tweet by @StatiSense, there are 7 countries whose individual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dwarfs Africa’s as a continent.
These countries which are located in either Europe, North America, and Asia are the United States of America, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, India and France in the following order:
1. USA: $20.93 trillion
2. China: $14.72 trillion
3. Japan: $5.05 trillion
4. Germany: $3.80 trillion
5. UK: $2.71 trillion
6. India: $2.71 trillion
7. France: $2.60 trillion.
Africa’s GDP is pegged at $2.35 trillion. According to an IMF 2020 Estimate, Africa’s GDP value by regional bloc is in the following fashion:
1. Northern [6]: $715.41 billion
2. Western [16]: $690.23 billion
3. Eastern [18]: $414.65 billion
4. Southern [5]: $334.61billion
5. Central [9]: $199.46 billion.
GDP which appraises the health of national and global economies, refers to the ‘monetary value of final goods and services—that is, those that are bought by the final user—produced in a country in a given period of time (say a quarter or a year).’
GDP reflects whether the total output of products, goods and services within the border of a given country say Nigeria is growing or declining. An increase in GDP suggests that the said economy is performing well, and vice versa.
In other words, the economy of France as an individual country, is more healthier than the combined economy of the over 50 countries which make up Africa as a continent. Again, what this implies is that the total goods, and services produced by India for instance is more than what is produced by Africa as a whole.
The implication is that USA’s GDP is almost nine times the size of the GDP of all 54 countries of Africa. Africa’s population is four times the size of USA’s population and Africa’s landmass is three times the size of USA’s landmass.
GDP as an important tool which guides policy-makers, investors, and businesses in strategic decision- making, should be helpful to Africa political and economic leaders.
