Dangote loses $3.61bn in 2023 amid naira’s devaluation

Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa wealth valuation lost $3.61 billion this year amid the CBN’s devaluation of the naira.

He remained Africa’s richest person for 12 consecutive years and closed the year with a net worth of $15.1 billion.

Data from the Bloomberg Billionaire Index reveals that Africa’s richest man who ranked among the top 100 had the start of the year in the world but closed the year at 128th position.

Aliko suffered net wealth losses this year despite a 21.3% uptick in Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s second most valuable company primarily due to the naira’s devaluation. His net FX assets according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index stand at about $2.58 billion.

Nigeria’s naira posted its worst year since the return to democracy in 1999 and was the worst-performing currency in Africa.

The liberalization of the foreign exchange regime in June as part of measures to revive the economy led to a large devaluation of the naira.

The CBN merged all segments of the FX market into the Investors and Exporters window and reintroduced the willing buyer, willing seller model.

The naira has continued to depreciate against the dollar and other major foreign currencies since then.

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The 66-year-old self-made billionaire in cement and sugar founded and chairs Dangote Cement, the continent’s largest cement producer, which can produce 48.6 million metric tons annually and has operations across Africa.

The latest SEC filings show he owns 86 per cent of the publicly traded Dangote Cement. Dangote Cement operates in eleven African nations and has an annual manufacturing capacity of 48.6 million metric tons.

Other publicly listed assets owned by Dangote include shares in the United Bank for Africa, Nascon Allied Industries, and Dangote Sugar.

One of Nigeria’s biggest corporations and a significant contributor to the nation’s economy, the Dangote Group, revealed that over the previous three years, its different businesses have paid N474 billion in taxes to the federal government.

In the Nigerian private sector, the conglomerate employs the greatest number of people.

Africa’s richest man $20 billion oil refinery that seems set for production isn’t included in the valuation because it’s not yet operational.

Nigeria’s Dangote refinery has received its next cargo of one million barrels of crude oil from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited, bringing the total to three million barrels at the facility’s Single-Point Mooring.

This is a significant step towards achieving Nigeria’s energy refining capacity and security.

The firm plans to begin producing diesel and aviation fuel by mid-January 2024, with the manufacture of Premium Motor Spirit to follow.

The company is geared up to initiate operations at a rate of 350,000 barrels per day.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery can supply all of Nigeria’s needs for refined products, including aviation jets, diesel, kerosene, and gasoline, and it also has excess supplies of all of these goods for export.