Aliko Dangote loses $4.2 billion on naira depreciation

22 Jun 2016
Financial Nigeria

Summary

Dangote has fallen 34 places to No. 80 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive, Dangote Group

The net worth of Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, has declined by $4.2 billion owing to the depreciation of the naira on the new interbank foreign exchange market, which commenced on Monday, according to a daily ranking of the world's richest people calculated by Bloomberg.

As of Tuesday, June 21, Dangote fell 34 places to No. 80 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI), compared to No. 46 recorded on Friday, June 17. Dangote's current net worth on the BBI is $12.2 billion, having lost $3.7 billion in his fortunes on Monday and $537.5 million on Tuesday.

The naira depreciated by 42 percent on Monday as the Central Bank of Nigeria launched the flexible interbank forex market. The new forex market is a single market structure without a peg and is designed to be market-driven. The naira fell to N281.85 against the dollar on Monday compared to N199 to the dollar the local currency was pegged before the new forex market system commenced.  

The stock price of Dangote's biggest asset, Dangote Cement Plc, also declined 2 percent to close at N179.99 per share at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday. The All Share Index (ASI) of the NSE also fell by 1.63 percent on the same day.  

Dangote Cement appreciated by 2.8 percent on Tuesday to close at N185 per share, as the NSE’s ASI also appreciated by 2.27 per cent. However, the naira further weakened to N284.83 on Tuesday as the CBN continued to intervene in the market to clear the backlog of FX demand in the country.

On a year-to-date basis, the net worth of the Nigerian billionaire and President and CEO of Dangote Group has declined by $3.1 billion or 20.4 percent, according to the BBI.
 
Top on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as the world's richest man is Bill Gates, with a net worth of $85.1 billion. On a year-to-date basis, the Microsoft founder's net worth has increased by $1.3 billion or 1.6 percent.


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