Durban in top 10 for rich Africans

Durban is in Africa’s top 10 for the most Dollar millionaires, according to a report.

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Durban - Durban is in Africa’s top 10 for the most dollar millionaires, according to a report released by AfrAsia Bank and wealth intelligence and market research company New World Wealth.

The research, released this month, places Durban at number seven, with 2 700 millionaires.

Johannesburg is the city with the most millionaires on the continent, with 23 400, while Ghana’s capital, Accra, rounds off the top 10 with 2 300 millionaires.

The research forecasts that Durban’s fortunes will get even better – moving into the top three by 2025, with an expected 4 000 millionaires.

The wealth is measured by a person having a net asset wealth of $1 million, which is about R14 million.

The report also states that Africa as a whole has 163 000 millionaires living on the continent.

Durban Chamber of Commerce chief executive, Dumile Cele, said she was not surprised by the number of millionaires in Durban.

“KwaZulu-Natal boasts the third highest export propensity, and the second highest level of industrialisation in the country, contributing on average 16% to national GDP after Gauteng, according to Statistics South Africa in 2014,” and that a third of South Africa’s manufactured exports were produced in KZN, she said.

On the poor economic climate affecting the number of millionaires Durban had, Cele said: “The current low levels of economic growth in our country are sounding warning bells to all role-players to make a more concerted effort to turn this dire situation around.”

She said there was willingness by the government and business to work together to create economic growth.

“If all social partners work together to address the social ills of unemployment, poverty and inequality, the by-product of increased economic growth will be more millionaires,” she said.