Airtel loses $151m to Nigeria’s FX rates harmonisation

<p>Airtel Africa Plc on Thursday reported that it lost $151m due to the harmonisation of the foreign exchange rates in Nigeria.</p>, <p>This was disclosed in its second quarter report filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited.</p>, <p>The telecom company said, “Profit after tax was negative ($151m) driven largely by a foreign exchange loss of $471m recorded in finance cost before tax and $317m after tax because of the devaluation of the Nigerian currency in the month of June 2023.</p>, <p>“This impact has been classified as a non-operating exceptional item.”</p>, <p>In June, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced the unification of all segments of the Nigerian forex market.</p>, <p>The apex bank collapsed all windows into the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to improve liquidity and stability in the market and attract foreign investors into the Nigerian economy.</p>, <p>Meanwhile, Airtel grew its total customer base by 8.8 per cent to 143.1mn, as the penetration of mobile data and mobile money services continued to rise, driving a 22.0 per cent increase in data customers to 56.8 million and a 24.3 per cent increase in mobile money customers to 34.3 million.</p>