TheCable

The naira is currently trading at 364 to the British pound but Nigerians can barely buy or sell.

The local currency, which traded at 376 to the pound on Monday, became stronger on Wednesday, following Brexit pains in one of the world’s largest economies, UK.

The British currency fell as low as £1/$1.28 on Wednesday following uncertainties in the overall economy of the UK, after its decision to leave the European Union.

According to Bloomberg data, the naira traded as low as 363/£1 over the holiday, as the UK legal  primary legal tender plummeted to a new 30-year low.

The dollar went for 282, while the European currency, Euro, traded for 312, appreciating from its position at 314  two days earlier.

However, as the naira grew appreciably stronger to the pound on Wednesday and Thursday on the international market, Nigerians could not trade as much as they would have wanted.

Prolonged public holiday – three days eid-al-fitri break – in Africa’s (arguable) largest economy led to the inability to trade via banks, bonds and other monetary instruments.

By Friday, analysts expect that the British pound would have found some strength and recovered slightly to a position above $1.30.

Nigerian black market has been trading arbitrarily with no uniform quote through the last 48 hours of the prolonged holiday.