Arabic version: إثيوبيا تصبح خامس أكبر اقتصاد في أفريقيا
According to Allafrica, Ethiopia has become Africa’s fifth-largest economy after revising its gross domestic product calculations to include sectors such as digital finance, services and manufacturing. Finance Minister Fitsum Assefa announced on November 4 that the economy was valued at $210.7 billion in the fiscal year ended July 2026.
The revised estimate puts Ethiopia behind South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria, while placing it ahead of Morocco and Kenya based on available GDP estimates. Ethiopia had previously ranked outside the continent’s five largest economies. The government changed the GDP base year from 2015-16 to 2024-25.
Under the new base year, the estimated size of the economy for 2024-25 increased 59.2% to $201.4 billion from about $126.4 billion. In local currency, GDP for that year was revised to 24.03 trillion birr from 15.09 trillion birr, while output for 2025-26 was put at 31.86 trillion birr.
Officials said older calculations no longer reflected changes in Ethiopia’s economic structure, including growth in digital services, financial technology and other activities. The revision used information from an agricultural census, household surveys, state-owned enterprises and nonprofit institutions. Services account for almost 36% of GDP, agriculture about 32%, and industry 30%.
A larger GDP estimate could improve reported debt indicators while Ethiopia restructures external obligations under the G20 Common Framework, because debt as a share of GDP declines without changing the amount owed. Oxford Economics said headline debt sustainability measures could improve, although repayments, foreign-currency needs and interest costs would remain unchanged. Ethiopia expects 10.2% growth in the fiscal year ending July 2027.
