Ghana Is Now A Richer Country Than Nigeria – Bismarck Rewane

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane has come out to say that Nigeria has fallen from the 32nd largest economy in the world to 42nd.

He recently had his say while speaking on the first anniversary of Tinubu’s term in office on Wednesday, Rewane, during his economic scorecard and presentations on Channels Television.

According to him, Ghana has since overtaken Nigeria when it comes to wealth accumulation, and while Nigeria has always been richer than Ghana in the past, the current external reserves and GDP figures speak for themselves.

He added that in Africa, our nation has also descended from its 1st ranking to 4th in terms of wealth management.

His words, “Our ranking among African countries has declined. Last year, our GDP growth was 2.98 per cent; South Africa was 1.93 per cent, Kenya four per cent, and Ghana 3.8 per cent. Inflation was 33 per cent for us, five per cent for South Africa, five per cent for Kenya, and 25 per cent for Ghana.

Our GDP per capita is $1,111, while South Africa’s is $6,700, Kenya’s is $2,000, and Ghana’s is $2,200. External reserves as a percentage of GDP illustrate a tough picture.

In the past, we were always richer than Ghana, but now we are here. External reserves and GDP figures speak for themselves.

There’s a cost of living crisis in Nigeria, and minimum wage negotiations are a source of widespread conflict. The wrong sequencing of reforms is taking its toll on output. Nigerians and Nigeria need new borrowing to refinance existing obligations, and policy changes, institutional reforms, and new borrowings are expected to lead to positive and faster growth from 2025 to 2026.

The economic weakness is partly structural and mostly exogenous. Exogenous means from outside, while structural means fundamental. The structural challenges include rent-seeking, market structure issues, energy crunch (4,000 MW), regulatory bottlenecks, declining labour productivity, and demographic pressures including urbanization.

Exogenous shocks include COVID-19 disruptions, post-COVID global supply chain disruptions, political tensions, high global interest rates, transit developments, the cost of living crisis, wage agitation, and social unrest”