Aliko Dangote has lost his Africa’s richest man title to South African billionaire Johann Rupert.
According to Forbes Billionaire Ranking seen on Sunday, Dangote’s net worth has dropped by 20.7% amid the naira devaluation implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
CBN devalued the naira, which caused the value of the Nigerian currency to drop by 40.5% since the devaluation took place last week Wednesday.
The naira to dollar exchange rate closed Friday’s trading with N663.04/$1, up from N471.67/$1 on Tuesday, as a result of the devaluation.
Amid the decline in the value of the naira, which is the denomination Dangote’s wealth is based on, the Nigerian billionaire fell to the second position on Africa’s richest list, while Rupert took the first spot.
Dangote’s wealth dropped by $2.80 billion to $10.7 billion, from $13.5 billion, costing him the richest man position for the first time since 2008, when he debuted on the Forbes Billionaire Index.
This in turn made Rupert became the richest man in Africa after his net worth increased by $1.3 billion from $10.7 billion to $13.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Dangote retains the top spot in Africa on Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index but has dropped out of the first 100 positions globally.
Bloomberg estimates Dangote’s wealth to be about $16.8 billion from $21.2 billion. Rupert’s wealth is $13.3 billion while retaining the number two spot on the Bloomberg list.
Apart from Dangote, other Nigerian billionaires on the Forbes list suffered a massive hit due to the naira devaluation.
His closest rival in Nigeria, Abdul Samad Rabiu and Mike Adenuga, took a hit.
abiu lost about $2 billion and his spot as Africa’s fourth richest man to Egyptian Nassef Sawiris, with a net worth of $6.9 billion, per Forbes list
