THE CABLE
Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group, has hailed President Bola Tinubu’s policies on subsidy removal and the elimination of multiple foreign exchange (FX) rates.
Tinubu had promised to work towards the removal of petrol subsidy and a unified exchange rate system in his inaugural speech on May 29.
Two weeks after the speech, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the unification of all segments of the FX market.
The development shrunk all FX windows into the investors & exporters (I&E) window, allowing the naira to float — a trading system where the FX rate is determined by buyers and sellers.
Introduced seven years after the CBN made a similar move in 2016, the new policy caused a ripple effect in the market, leading to further depreciation of an already battered local currency.
On Thursday, TheCable reported that Aliko Dangote lost $3.12 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index (BBI).
It was learnt that changes in the foreign exchange markets occasioned by the recent floating of the naira may have contributed to the billionaires’ losses.
