Dangote drops off top 100 rich list as naira crumbles

Following the crash of the naira, Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote group, has dropped off the list of the 100 richest people in the world.

Dangote was the 51st richest man in the world as at March 2016, but he had dropped to 101 as at the start of business on Monday.

Dangote, who owns the second largest sugar-refinery in the world, remains richer than Donald Trump, American billionaire presidential candidate, and Oprah Winfrey, US TV personality, who dubs as the  second richest black woman in the world.

Dangote is now worth $11.1 billion, while Trump and Oprah are estimated at $4.5 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively.

The fall in the naira, as against the dollar, from about 198 to about 300, has eroded about a quarter of Dangote’s wealth, as he commits to investing heavily in Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria.

At the launch of the new foreign exchange regime on June 23, 2016, Dangote fell from 46 on the world billionaire list to 71, and has continued in that manner with the naira plunge.

According to Bloomberg billionaires, Dangote, who was worth $15.4 billion (N3.05 trillion) in March, is now worth $11.1 billion (N3.3 trillion) —richer in naira, but poorer in dollars.

The launch of Dangote refinery, the biggest greenfield refinery in the world, billed for 2018/2019 is expected to propel him into top 20 by 2019.

Dangote Cement, one of Dangote’s  major investments in Nigeria, is the biggest company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, by market capitalisation, and the biggest cement producer in sub-saharan Africa.

The company however missed out of the 100 biggest companies in the world, according to Fortune 500.