The top 3 richest African rulers are worth $7.4 billion

Africa is home to extreme wealth inequality.
While an increasing number of people live on less than $1.90 (687) a day, the leaders sit on top of millions.

Meet the top three richest rulers in Africa:

Mohammed VI ($5.8 billion)

The reigning leader of Morocco has an estimated net worth of $5.8 billion, according to Forbes. This makes him the wealthiest leader across the continent.

Reportedly, his wealth comes mostly from investments and inheritances from his father, King Hassan. He controls Moroccan investment holding company Societe Nationale d’Investissement, worth over $10 billion.

Mohammed VI is worth billions AFP

He also owns one of the world’s largest phosphate reserves and has investments in the financial, mining, telecommunications, and distribution sectors.

Forbes reports that Mohammed has a daily operating budget of $960,000 for his palace. He has also been spotted with a rare Patek Philippe watch worth $ 1.2 billion.

Africa’s richest ruler leads a country where 24% of the population (nine million Moroccans) can be “considered poor or at risk of poverty,” according to a World Bank report.

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Ali Bongo Ondimba ($1 billion)

This President of Gabon is said to be worth $1 billion and makes $65,000 per year. Daily Mail reports that he bought a townhouse in Paris worth $129 million in 2010.

The previous year (2009), the independent anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, filed a case against the Bongo family.

Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba (pictured March 2019) AFP

They called on the French justice system to examine the Gabon president and his family. During the investigation, which lasted for seven years, the French police discovered several assets including 39 properties in France and nine luxury cars.

The case was later dropped in 2017, according to French news agency AFP, due to insufficient evidence of alleged “ill-gotten gains”.

While the president lives in abundance, nearly five percent of the population live below the international poverty line of $1.25 every day.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo ($600 million)

Mbasogo became the president of Equatorial Guinea in 1979 after throwing out his uncle Francisco Macías Nguema in an August 1979 military coup. Forbes estimates that he is worth $600 million.

Reportedly, he has an estate in Malibu, three $1.7 million Bugatti Veyrons and multiple homes in South Africa. He is said to have spent $10 million on champagne, property upgrades and multiple luxury cars including a couple of Bentleys and a Lamborghini during a weekend in South Africa.

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He has been accused of looting his oil-rich country while his citizens live on less than $1 per day.

While African leaders sit on millions, the World Bank predicts that “poverty will soon become a predominantly African phenomenon.”

Commenting on increasing poverty and wealth inequality, Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said: “Africa is ready to rise — but only once it’s leaders have the courage to back a more human economy that works for the many and not a few super-rich men.

“African political and business leaders face a clear choice. They can stay on the path of increasingly extreme inequality, where poverty continues to rise while wealth in the hands of a tiny elite and foreign companies’ spirals. Or they can choose another way: towards a more prosperous and equal Africa that invests in and respects the dignity of all its people.”

The top 3 richest African rulers are worth $7.4 billion

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