On April 18, London-based research group Henley and Partners published the World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2023 which showed that Nairobi has lost 300 dollar millionaires.
Nairobi has 4,700 High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs). This is a drop of 300 from September 2022 when Nairobi had 5,000 HNWIs.
A High Net Worth Individual is defined as someone who has a net worth of over Ksh134,750,000.
Mombasa is the only other Kenyan city in the report which has 700 dollar millionaires. This brings the total number of dollar millionaires in Kenya to 5400.
There are no dollar billionaires as was the case last year.
Nairobi was ranked the fifth wealthiest city in Africa. Johannesburg, South Africa was the wealthiest African city followed by Cairo in Egypt, Cape Town in South Africa, and Lagos in Nigeria respectively.
Dollar millionaires in Johannesburg dropped by 600, Cairo reduced by 400, Cape Town increased by 400, and Lagos decreased by 900.
Thus, the rank of the top five African cities remained unchanged from September 2022.
The drop in dollar millionaires came amidst a shortage of the US dollar, a biting cash crunch in the country, and a rise in commodity prices. On March 17, the Kenya shilling was exchanged at Ksh140 against the US dollar.
However, the government announced measures to address the dollar shortage including buying oil on a government-to-government programme using the shilling as opposed to the dollar.
This, according to experts, will ease pressure on the demand for the dollar. Previously, all imported oil was paid for in dollars.
Speaking at the Port of Mombasa on April 13 while receiving oil that had arrived in Kenya from the UAE, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua advised investors who were hoarding dollars to release them into the market to avert losses that would occur due to reduced demand for the dollar.
“Let me ask all those Kenyans, business people, and investors who have been holding dollars for speculation purposes to offload your dollars in the market today and tomorrow. It will go down starting today, tomorrow, and the day after,” the DP noted.
