LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria is withholding $743 million in income earned by worldwide carriers working within the nation, the very best quantity owed by any nation, a spokesperson for the worldwide airways trade affiliation mentioned on Thursday.

Nigeria faces extreme shortages of overseas foreign money, resulting in restrictions on imports and that means buyers can’t convert native foreign money to repatriate their income.

Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA) spokesperson Katherine Kaczynska mentioned governments all over the world owed $2.2 billion to airways. Nigeria had the very best quantity of blocked funds, adopted by Algeria and Lebanon, which owed $165 million and $146 million respectively.

“Enabling the environment friendly repatriation of revenues is important for any financial system to stay globally related to markets and provide chains,” Kaczynska mentioned in emailed response to questions from Reuters.

Dubai’s Emirates suspended flights to Nigeria final yr after failing to repatriate ticket gross sales. Final month, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the central financial institution to extend the quantity of overseas foreign money allotted to Emirates after chatting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Emirates has but to renew flights to Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous nation and is liable for a big share of the continent’s air travellers.

Industrial-scale theft of crude of oil, Nigeria’s single largest earner of overseas change, has drastically lowered the nation’s movement of {dollars} within the final yr.

Aside from Nigeria’s $743 million debt, Kaczynska mentioned international locations below the West African Financial and Financial Union owed $132 million whereas Zimbabwe, which has perennial greenback shortages owed $80 million.