Orange Egypt says nine-month loss jump by 1232%

French telecoms company Orange has incurred substantial losses in Egypt during the first nine months of 2017.

The company’s losses in Egypt had further broadened to 1.769 billion Egyptian pounds ($100.2 million) at the end of September, around 1232 percent higher from losses worth 132.9 million pounds in the same period a year ago.

The jump in losses was due to three factors, Orange Egypt said in a statement on Sunday. The first was the increase in the number of loans given to Orange Egypt, the statement said citing the high interest rates to 400 points which raised the borrowing costs in return.

The second factor was the high interest rates which led to the increase in the operating costs, such as the hikes in fuel and electricity prices, the statement added.

As for the third factor, the group referred to the impact of the liberalisation of the Egyptian pound against foreign currencies in early November 2016, which also affected the company’s operating costs.

The company made a nine-month revenue worth 9.35 billion pounds higher from 8.80 billion pounds last year.