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Nairobi tycoons top list of millionaires in East Africa


Kenya is now among the top five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with a high number of dollar millionaires, says a new report.

According to the report by New World Wealth, a South African market research firm, Kenya now has 8,500 millionaires, the largest number in the East African region.

Uganda has 1,300 and Tanzania 2,200.

South Africa has the highest number of millionaires on the continent at 46,800 in 2014, followed by Egypt (20,000), then Nigeria (15,400).

REAL ESTATE

Of the Kenyan millionaires, 19 per cent are in the real estate and construction sector, 18 per cent in the financial services sector and 10 per cent in the manufacturing sector.

The report says there were about 161,000 millionaires living in Africa at the end of 2014, with a combined wealth of $660 billion (Sh66 trillion).

Their wealth increased by 145 per cent from 2000 to 2014 compared to a worldwide growth rate of 73 per cent during the same period.

The report says the number of millionaires in Africa is expected to rise by 45 per cent, to 234,000, over the next 10 years.

The document contrasts markedly with other reports on income distribution across Africa, including the one by the World Bank, which points to growing levels of inequality across the continent.

Recent World Bank data shows that the number of poor people in Africa, defined as those living on less than $1.25 (Sh125) a day, increased from 411.3 million in 2010 to 415.8 million in 2011.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

The World Bank has forecast an average of 5.5 per cent economic growth for Sub-Saharan Africa over the next year, though it warned that “extreme poverty remains high across the region”.

Mr Nick Dearden, the director of the advocacy group Global Justice Now, told the Guardian that the report shows deepening inequality across the continent.

“It’s no wonder that rich individuals in Africa are getting richer, because we’re seeing a form of ‘development’ … which hugely benefits the wealthy but makes the lives of the poor even harder.

Aid money, trade agreements and corporate ‘investment’ pushed by Britain are locking countries into a form of growth, which is all about making the rich even more rich and the poor even more poor.”

The rankings show that people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are the poorest, at $230 (Sh23,000) an individual.

“Over the last year, there has been very strong growth in places such as Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania,” said Mr Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth.

SOURCE: Daily Nation