South Africa has been rated second in Bloomberg’s ranking of the world’s most miserable economies, a dip in two places after the country was rated fourth in 2017.

South Africa, Africa’s second largest economy behind Nigeria, saw its economic fortunes dwindle under Jacob Zuma, its former President, who resigned last week following threats of impeachment.

Nigeria, on the other hand, was neither named in the 2017 rankings nor the 2018’s.

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s new President, had unveiled a 10-point plan for reviving the economy, which includes boosting industrialisation and job creation, and strengthening small businesses and digital start-ups.

“Our task, as South Africans, is to seize this moment of hope and renewal, and to work together to ensure that it makes a meaningful difference in the lives of our people,” he said.

Egypt (fourth) is the other African country that featured in the top 10 of the list.

Topping the list is Venezuela, where political instability has driven inflation up to a dizzying level — and experts predict it could rise up to 1,864 percent this year.

The Bloomberg Misery Index relies on the concept that low inflation and unemployment rate generally illustrate how good residents of a nation should feel.

However, “a low tally can be misleading in either category (as) persistently low prices can be a sign of poor demand, and too-low joblessness shackles workers who want to switch to better jobs,” Bloomberg explained.

The first 10 countries in the list of 2018 world’s most miserable economies are Venezuela, South Africa, Argentina, Egypt, Greece, Ukraine Spain, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Serbia.

Thailand, Singapore and Japan (tied with Switzerland) lead the pack of nations with the best economic prospect for 2018. They are followed by Taiwan, Israel, Iceland, Norway (tied with South Korea), Denmark (tied with Hong Kong) and China.