Forex Harmonisation: Airtel Incurs Over $151 Million Loss

Airtel Africa Plc on Thursday reported that it lost $151m due to the harmonisation of the foreign exchange rates in Nigeria.

This was disclosed in its second quarter report filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

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.

According to a financial statement published on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), Airtel Africa has reported a loss for its Q1 result in 2023—April 1 to June 30, 2023. Airtel reported a loss after tax for the period under review of $151 million, compared to a profit after tax of $178 million during the same period in 2022. Conversely, the telco’s revenue grew by 9.6% to $1.37 billion in Q1 2023, compared to $1.25 billion in the same period in 2022.

“This impact has been classified as a non-operating exceptional item.”

In June, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced the unification of all segments of the Nigerian forex market.

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.

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.