The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Tuesday, 12 April 2022, that foreign airlines' revenue trapped in Nigeria because of foreign exchange scarcity had risen to approximately $550 million, describing it as one of the largest blocked-funds backlogs of any country in the world.
IATA said the figure had grown steadily over the preceding year as the Central Bank of Nigeria struggled to meet dollar demand across multiple sectors of the economy, leaving airlines unable to repatriate ticket sales revenue collected in naira.
Airlines Weigh Their Options
The association said several carriers had begun restricting ticket sales in Nigeria or reducing capacity on Nigerian routes as a way of limiting further exposure to the trapped funds, a trend it warned could eventually reduce international connectivity for Nigerian travellers if left unresolved.
A spokesperson for the Central Bank of Nigeria said the apex bank was working through a backlog of forex requests across all sectors and denied that airlines were being treated differently from other industries competing for scarce foreign currency.
