Nigeria and the entire West Africa economy, with a combined regional GDP size estimated at approximately $705 billion were completely missing in the latest classification of the most-industrialised economies in Africa, according to a new report by the African Development Bank (AfDB) published by Bloomberg Business.
West Africa’s economy is heavily dominated by Nigeria whose GDP size of $377.37 billion slipped to the continent’s third largest behind South Africa ($479.96 billion) and Egypt ($429.65 billion) in the latest 2026 country-by-country ranking.
Meanwhile, Morocco, the biggest competitor overtook South Africa as the continent’s most industrialised economy in 2025 as the North African country upgrades its offering, diversifying exports and implementing growth policies, the report showed.
Morocco, with a GDP size of $194.33 billion is the 5th largest economy in Africa, according to latest classification by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the North African country powers off with a shift from a traditional reliance on agriculture and tourism to a diversified, industrial export-driven powerhouse.
According to a World Bank report, the country is recognized as an industrial leader in Africa. Though it continues to navigate challenges with unemployment, regional disparities, and climate-induced volatility.
The African Development Bank, in its Africa Industrialisation Index for 2025, said: “While South Africa remains a continental industrial powerhouse, it continues to experience a steady decline in industrial competitiveness”.
According to the AfDB, South Africa economy has been punctuated by years of power shortages, state corruption, political uncertainty and surging living costs that have deterred investment and curbed economic growth, with gross domestic product expanding by an average of less than one percent annually over the past decade.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously estimated that South Africa needs as much as R1.6 trillion (or $98.5 billion) in public-sector infrastructure investment and an additional R3.2 trillion (or $196.95 billion)
from the private sector to achieve its infrastructure goals by 2030.
The AfDB report also indicated that South Africa’s gross fixed-capital formation contracted in three of four quarters of 2025, rising only in the final four months of the year under review, in a sign that businesses were beginning to invest in machinery and buildings, which may help lift the economy’s productive capacity.
Overall, the AfDB said Africa’s industrial capacity remains heavily concentrated in northern and southern regions of the continent, which account for most of the manufacturing output, export sophistication, and industrial competitiveness.
Northern Africa region, with only four countries (Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) has a nominal combined GDP size estimated at approximately $1.0 trillion. This regional economy accounts for about 30 percent of the entire African continent’s total output and is roughly equivalent in economic size to the economy of Switzerland.
The southern African region made up of six countries (South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Mozambique) has a nominal combined GDP size estimated at approximately $650 billion. This total is dominated by South Africa, which remains the continent’s largest economy with an estimated GDP of $429.65 billion, followed by Angola at $109.86 billion.
This leaves out the western and central regions, which, despite having more countries are performing considerably below par on socio-economic fronts. The two regions also experience severe energy crisis from supply disruption from the ongoing international conflict involving the U.S., Israel and Iran. There are also renewed attacks from jihaddists and insurgents.
