AI can boost Nigeria’s GDP by 4% – IMF

What the report says

The Punch reports that the International Monetary Fund says artificial intelligence could raise Nigeria’s and sub-Saharan Africa’s economic output by as much as 4% over the next decade, if governments invest more deliberately in digital infrastructure, skills and governance. The newspaper said the IMF made the projection in a blog published on Tuesday, drawing from a departmental paper titled “Unlocking the Potential: AI in Sub-Saharan Africa,” authored by Martin Schindler, Nikola Spatafora and Andrew Tiffin of the IMF’s African Department.

According to the report, the IMF warned that the benefit would be far smaller without stronger readiness, estimating that current conditions would lift regional GDP by only about 0.2% over 10 years. The Fund linked the issue to Africa’s employment challenge, noting that sub-Saharan Africa is expected to account for a large share of new global labour-force entrants by 2030 and needs both more jobs and more productive work.

The Punch said the IMF sees AI’s main opportunity in Africa as productivity improvement rather than large-scale replacement of office workers. It cited possible uses in informal businesses, agriculture, education, healthcare and tax administration. The article highlighted examples including Nigerian chatbot tutoring pilots, digital farming advisory trials in Nigeria and other African countries, and analytics used by some governments to improve tax compliance.

To capture the potential gains, the IMF identified reliable electricity, affordable broadband, data infrastructure, digital skills, regulation and public trust as key requirements. The broader significance is that Nigeria and its neighbours could use AI to narrow productivity gaps, but the IMF cautioned that delayed adoption may instead widen the distance between African economies and richer countries.