Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, fell 25 places on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Monday as the naira fell on its first day of trading without a peg to the U.S. dollar.
The West Africa nation’s naira tumbled on Monday as the central bank ended a 16-month-long currency fix that caused investors to flee and sent the economy to the brink of recession.
According to Bloomberg, the biggest losers for the day were Nigerian Breweries, Guinness, Dangote Cement and PZ.
Dangote’s fortune fell $3.7 billion, knocking him to No. 71 on the Bloomberg ranking, down from No. 46 on Friday. The majority of Dangote’s $12.7 billion fortune is derived from a 91% stake in Dangote Cement Plc, which shed 2% in trading Monday.
Banks in the African most populous nation have asked customers to submit bids in recent days, in a sign trading will be market-driven and not simply dominated by speculative interbank dealing.
Foreign investors and economists have been calling for months for a naira devaluation as chronic foreign currency shortages choked economic growth and led to widespread capital flight.
Africa’s biggest economy, which contracted by 0.4 percent in the first quarter, faces its worst crisis in decades after the decline in oil prices since 2014 and last year’s introduction of a currency peg.
While allowing the naira’s exchange rate to be “market-driven,” the central bank would intervene when necessary, Governor Godwin Emefiele said when he announced the new system on June 15.