Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, advises against holding dollars amid forex fluctuations, saying he’d rather sell today than wait a month.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, says he would rather sell his dollars now than keep them, predicting that the naira will gain more strength soon as new government policies and his refinery’s operations boost the economy.
Speaking on the facility’s impact on the economy, Dangote noted that the refinery has significantly reduced the country’s dependence on imported petroleum products and eased pressure on foreign exchange demand.
He said, “One of the things people didn’t realise is that without this refinery, you would have ended up buying the dollar at a ridiculous rate, not at N1,475. It’s N1,455 today. So it’s a major gain. You wouldn’t have seen the dollar rates dropping and also the foreign reserves going up.”
Dangote expressed optimism that the naira will continue to strengthen in the coming months, especially with new government policies aimed at supporting the downstream sector.
“And I can assure you, in the next one or two months, with the new policy of the government supporting the downstream, the dollar rate will improve a lot. If I have dollars today, I’d rather sell than wait until next month,” he added.