Forbes Magazine said that South African businessman Johann Rupert has passed Nigerian investor Aliko Dangote to become Africa’s richest man.
As of Friday, Rupert’s net worth is $12 billion, according to the Forbes Real-time Global Billionaires Ranking. Dangote, who is second on the list, has a net worth of only $10.8 billion.
Dangote’s net worth went down after the Central Bank of Nigeria put operating charges on the foreign exchange market. This made the Naira lose value against the US dollar, which hurt Dangote’s wealth.
Forbes and Bloomberg had to recalculate the wealth of all Nigerian millionaires, which caused Dangote, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the founder of BUA cement, and Mike Adenuga, the Chairman of telecommunications giant Globacom Limited, to lose a lot of money.
Aliko Dangote, on the other hand, is expected to get back on his feet now that the $20 billion Dangote plant was opened last month.