Paul Redfern
3 July 2007
Nairobi — The wealth of Africa's super rich grew by more than 14 per cent last year, the second highest continental figure in the world after Latin America.
According to the annual survey of the world's richest people by the investment bank Merrill Lynch and its Consultancy firm Capgemini, the wealth of Africa's richest people amounts to around $900 billion, a staggering figure in a continent beset by poverty and low income.
Merrill Lynch estimates that there are around 100,000 "high net worth individuals (HNWI)" across Africa. These are people with at least $1 million to invest in financial assets excluding their first homes.
According to Merrill Lynch, the phenomenal growth in wealth by Africa's wealthiest elite is down to high commodity prices, which led to a real GDP growth in the continent of 5.1 per cent in 2006.
"This in turn led to increased interest in foreign direct investment, particularly in the mining and exploration sectors.
"China has been an active player in Africa, investing heavily in various sectors and showing particular interest in mining. Taken together, these factors bolstered the continent's HNWI population, helping it grow by 12.5 percent in 2006 and increasing its wealth by 14 per cent."
Africa still has relatively few millionaires compared to other continents; its 100,000 rich are only a quarter of those of Latin America and a third of those in the Middle East.
The wealthiest continent remains North America where there are an estimated 3.2 million HNWIs with a combined wealth of $11,300 billion.
This figure is around $1,200 billion more than Europe, the next biggest continent in terms of the numbers of super rich.
In Britain alone, a staggering 484,580 people have assets of more than $1 million and worldwide, there are nearly 10 million people who could be correctly labelled HNWIs.
The report says much of the income is spent on luxury items, art collections, jewellery and charitable causes.
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