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South Africa has overtaken Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy in dollar terms, as the value of the nations’ currencies moved in opposite directions. Nigeria’s GDP became bigger than that of South Africa over two years ago when, for the first time in two decades, Nigeria rebased its GDP. However, from $589 billion in 2014, Nigeria’s GDP has now tanked to $296 billion.

Based on the GDP at the end of 2015 published by the International Monetary Fund, the size of South Africa’s economy is $301 billion at the rand’s current exchange rate, while Nigeria’s GDP is $296 billion. That’s after the rand gained more than 16 percent against the dollar since the start of 2016, and Nigeria’s naira lost more than a third of its value after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) removed its currency peg in June.

Both nations face the risk of a recession after contracting in the first quarter of the year. The Nigerian economy shrank by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of 2016 and it is deemed to have also contracted in Q2 ahead of the data by National Bureau of Statistics, pushing the economy into a recession.

Nigeria’s economic contraction has been driven by the sharp decline in oil prices, disruption in oil production in the restive Niger Delta region, consequent shortage of foreign currency which has hampered industrial production, and investors’ apathy towards the management of the economy.

In South Africa, GDP contracted by 0.2 percent from a year earlier as farming and mining output declined.

“More than the growth outlook, in the short term the ranking of these economies is likely to be determined by exchange rate movements,” Alan Cameron, an economist at Exotix Partners LLP, told Bloomberg via e-mailed on Aug. 2. Although Nigeria is unlikely to be unseated as Africa’s largest economy in the long run, “the momentum that took it there in the first place is now long gone,” he said.

The South African rand rallied as investors turned to emerging markets with liquid capital markets to seek returns after Britain voted to leave the European Union on June 23, even as the central bank forecast the economy won’t expand this year and the nation risks losing its investment-grade credit rating. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) recorded its lowest support since 1994 in the Aug. 3 local government election. But that has translated into further gains for the economy, as the speculation is that the result of the elections would push the party to introduce economic reforms that will boost growth and cut unemployment.

In Nigeria, investors didn’t flock to buy naira-based assets after authorities removed the peg of 197-199 naira per dollar. The CBN raised its benchmark interest rate to a record in July to lure foreign money, even as the IMF forecast the economy will contract 1.8 percent this year.