For the 12th year in at a stretch, Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, remains Africa’s richest, despite losing his $3.12 billion fortune to $17.8 billion, as a result of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unification of the naira’s exchange rate system.
The 66-year-old Kano-born billionaire has fallen from 74th to 94th richest person in the world.
This is the steepest daily drop ever recorded by the Nigerian billionaire on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Impact of naira exchange rate and investment performance
At the close of trading in Lagos on Wednesday, the naira fell 29% to N664 to the dollar, according to local exchange operator FMDQ.
The central bank of Nigeria earlier set a sell-dollar exchange rate for exporters and investors at N610.20, 22% below Tuesday’s price.
The billionaire’s fortune moderated in dollar terms even as the local stock market and government bonds rose as investors welcomed the latest prospects of President Bola Tinubu’s string of reforms.
Most of Dangote’s fortune comes from 86% of the listed Dangote Cement shares.
He owns shares in the company directly and through his conglomerate, Dangote Industries.
The $19 billion refinery currently commissioned by President Buhari is not yet operational and thus is not included in the valuation.
Nairametrics
