With investors showing increased interest in African equity and bond markets and through direct investment, data issues are getting more urgent. Insufficient resources at national statistics offices result in poor quality macroeconomic data.
Measuring GDP in Africa is just plain difficult.
African countries generally fail to accurately record the size of the informal economy which could account for up to 62.7 percent of GDP in countries across the continent. Many African economies are measured using outdated base years. Revising them could lead to a collective upward revision in African GDP of 30.8 percent, according to World Economics.
Most African countries also use outdated national income accounting standards, making comparisons between their economies and the developed world of little value. Accurate and transparent statistics are essential indicators of economic potential, World Economics reported.