Dangote loses $3.7 billion on plunging Naira

Nigerian billionnaire and Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote’s fortune fell $3.7 billion knocking him to No. 71 on the Bloomberg ranking, down from No. 46 on Friday.

Dangote fell 25 places on the Bloomberg Billionaires index on Monday as the naira tumbled on its first day of trading without a peg to the US dollar.

Majority of Dangote’s $12.7 billion fortune is derived from a 91 percent stake in Dangote cement PLC which shed 2 percent in trading on Monday.

The central bank had began auctioning dollars to limit the currency’s decline.

The bank had been using capital controls to stem an outflow of dollars after the naira crashed in February 2015 when oil prices slumped.

Dangote loses $3.7bn as naira’s value drops https://t.co/MJges77weR via YNaija on Twitter and Facebook

— Y! Online (YNaija) June 21, 2016

Dangote’s slide came as equity markets worldwide surged on the hopes that British voters would choose to remain in the European Union.

The second biggest drop in the latest ranking belongs to US casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson whose Las Vegas Sands fell 5.6 percent along with other gambling stocks.

This comes after reports that revenue was trending downward. Adelson, who lost $1.1 billion on Monday, is the world’s 29th richest person with $23.3 billion.

Press Agency