The latest economic update from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revealed that South Africa is now the third biggest economy in Africa, with Nigeria taking first place and Egypt second. According to the IMF, the weak rand, which worked against South Africa in the conversion to dollars in the IMF report, is the reason for the country’s drop to third place.
The rand weakened from an average of R8.20/$ during 2012 to an average of R12.74/$ in 2015 - a depreciation of more than 50 percent. Projections from the IMF showed that Egypt's 2015 GDP was $330.8 billion, compared to SA's $313 billion.
On SA's heels in fourth place is Algeria, though still a fair way off, and not yet posing a threat, according to the IMF. Algeria had a GDP output of $172 billion in 2015 (with a projected $166 billion in 2016), meaning that SA has a $100 billion lead.
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