Nigeria has lost its position as Africa’s largest economy to South African in dollar terms. This came as the rand recorded gains to close at 13.2805 per dollar, with the naira weakening at 2.7 per cent, to N320 to $1, at the close of business yesterday. From a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) value of $510 billion to the present assessed $296 billion due to weakened naira, Nigerian economy is believed to have contracted by about 42 per cent compared to the South African economy that contracted from the assessed $370 billion to $310 billion. Indeed, South Africa regained the position more than two years after losing it to Nigeria as the value of the nations’ currencies moved in opposite directions. Based on the countries’ gross domestic product at the end of 2015 published by the International Monetary Fund, the size of South Africa’s economy is $301 billion at the rand’s current exchange rate, while Nigeria’s GDP is $296 billion. Specifically, the rand gained more than 16 per...