Bloomberg in its latest Billionaire Index reports that Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has lost $ 5.4 billion in his fortune this year.
The loss was occasioned by the massive fall of the Nigerian currency, the Naira as the Central Bank of Nigeria rations the dollar, to stem huge capital outflow in the wake of Nigeria’s worst economic crisis.
This is contained in Bloomberg Billionaires Index released on Tuesday.
The Index blamed the sharp drop in Dangote’s networth on the slump in commodities prices and the devaluation of the naira in June by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
The report put Dangote’s net worth at 9.9 billion dollars, a 62 per cent drop since January 2014.
Using an average exchange rate of N250 to a dollar, Dangote’s 5.4 billion dollars loss translates to about N1.35 trillion.
However, the report stated that Africa’s second-wealthiest person, South African Christo Wiese, trails Dangote by 2.8 billion dollars with his fortune climbing 12 per cent this year on the index.