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Richest African Says Nigeria Needs $15 Billion for Economy

  • Dangote says asset sales, borrowing would boost reserves
  • Nigerian economy forecast to contract 1.8% this year by IMF
Aliko Dangote on Sept. 21. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Aliko Dangote on Sept. 21. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

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Nigeria needs $15 billion from asset sales and borrowing to revive a slumping economy and boost foreign reserves, according to Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man.

“Through sales of assets, through loans from Bank of China or wherever, we need something like $15 billion,” Dangote, a Nigerian national, said in a Bloomberg TV interview at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in New York on Wednesday. “We’re having a problem as the reserves are low. The banks, entrepreneurs, everybody is speculating on the currency.”