The report also revealed that industry losses due to software piracy in Nigeria rose to USD132 million in 2008, Itnewsafrica.com reported.

According to BSA, in sub-Saharan Africa the highest piracy countries were Zimbabwe 92%, Cameroon 83% and Nigeria 83%. Among the lowest piracy countries were Reunion- 40%, Mauritius- 57% and Senegal-79%.

The sixth annual global PC software piracy study released by the BSA - an international association representing the global software industry covering 110 countries was conducted independently by IDC, the information technology (IT) industry’s leading global market research and forecasting firm.

A recent study by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) also named Zimbabwe as one of seven countries with the highest rates of illegal software usage. The other six countries are Georgia , Bangladesh , Armenia , Sri Landa, Azerbaijan and Moldova .

According to the report: “Software piracy grew last year, accounting for 41 percent of all PC software installed, with losses to companies estimated at $53 billion”.