Emirates declined to say how much was trapped in Nigeria,
but a spokesperson said about half of the amount in its backlog
was overdue for repatriation and that the process "remains beset
with constant delays".
Nigeria is withholding $743 million in revenue earned by
international carriers operating in the country, the highest
amount owed by any nation, global airline industry association
IATA said last week.
Sirika said on Thursday that the country was aiming to
release money from foreign airlines' ticket sales, held up by
dollar shortages in the country, but did not provide a timeline.
Nigeria is facing severe dollar shortages, forcing many
citizens and businesses to seek foreign exchange on the black
market, where its naira currency has progressively weakened.
President Muhammadu Buhari in February directed the central
bank to increase the amount of foreign currency allocated to
Emirates after the airline suspended flights to and from Nigeria
because it was unable to repatriate funds.
The Emirates spokesperson said the carrier had made many
concerted efforts to restart flights to Africa's most populous
nation since halting them five months ago, but a solution
continued to be stalled.
Oil is Nigeria's biggest foreign exchange earner, but
rampant crude theft in the Niger Delta and years of
under-investment have hit output and strained government
finances. For a few months last year, Angola overtook Nigeria as
Africa's biggest oil producer and exporter.
(Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha;
Editing by David Goodman and Jamie Freed)
(Adds more comments, IATA context)
By Ghaida Ghantous
DUBAI, March 24 (Reuters) - Emirates Airline has a
"substantial" amount of ticket sale revenue trapped in Nigeria
and has made only slow progress in repatriating blocked funds
out of Africa's biggest economy, it said on Friday.
A day earlier Nigeria's aviation minister Hadi Sirika told
reporters that the Dubai-based carrier had received most of its
funds out of Nigeria and had about $35 million that still needed
to be released.
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