MTN Nigeria’s financial results for the first half of 2024 reveal a significant loss after tax of $519.1 billion, underscoring the gravity of the dwindling Nigerian economy’s impact on its financial situation.
According to the report, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, one of the biggest telecommunication companies in the country and some parts of Africa, could not adequately prevent the losses due to Nigeria’s macroeconomic situation including high inflation and the naira’s continuous devaluation which in turn, worsens the country’s operating environment.
Following the disclosure, MTN’s Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Karl Toriola, in a statement, emphasized the impact of Nigeria’s macroeconomic situations on the company’s service revenue, which experienced a 32.6 percent growth, representing N1.5 trillion for the period ended June 2024.
According to Toriola, “The macroeconomic conditions in Nigeria have been challenging during this period.”
The CEO noted that “the country has been grappling with rising inflation and the continued depreciation of the naira against the US dollar and other currencies adding that “the inflation rate reached 34.2 per cent in June, with an average rate of 32.8 per cent for the first half of the year, while the naira closed June 2024 at N1,505/$ (December 2023: N907/$) at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market.
MTN noted that it would have recorded a profit after tax of N102.3 billion if not for forex losses incurred within the fourth quarter of 2023 which typically rose to the tune of N887.7 billion net losses.
