How SA’s wealth was destroyed

AfrAsia Bank, in collaboration with New World Wealth, has published its African wealth report for 2021.

The report analyses the trends of the continent’s ultra-wealthy individuals.

Highlights include:

• SA is home to over twice as many dollar millionaires as any other African country
• Egypt has the most billionaires on the continent
• The number of millionaires living in South Africa continues to decline
• SA has 36 500 dollar millionaires, down by 1 900 from the number recorded in 2020
• 1 930 multi-millionaires live in SA, each with net assets of $10-million or more
• Five billionaires live in South Africa, with net assets of $1-billion+ each

The destruction of wealth:

• SA’s wealth performance is classed as “poor”, with total private wealth held in the country declining by 25% over the past decade
• Loss of currency value against the dollar affected this
• Many local businesses shut
• Wealthy people are emigrating – to UK, Australia, USA, Switzerland, Israel, Mauritius, New Zealand, the UAE, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus and Malta
• An inability to sell houses valued at over R10-million
• Coronavrius has had a negative impact, with private wealth and HNWI levels in Africa dropping by around 9% over the past year (2020), due to job losses caused by lockdown, lack of tourism, closure of businesses and rising debt.