TheCable

The Nigerian parallel market is perhaps the only market in the world to be unperturbed by all the drama in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the rest of the world.

The British pound at the parallel market was relatively unchanged, despite a plunge in the value of the British currency to a 31-year low on Friday.

The British pound fell from £1 to $1.50 dollars on Thursday to about £1 to $1.36 after UK decided to leave the European Union, losing about 15 cents on every pound in conversion to the dolar.

On the Nigerian interbank market, the naira moved from 400/£1 to 382, gaining about N18 on every pound converted.

The parallel market however remained stable as the pound traded at 485 against the naira on Friday, only from N486 on Thursday – not reflecting the effects of a weaker pound sterling.

A bureau de change operator, who spoke to TheCable from Abuja, said there was no appreciable difference in the position of the pound after Brexit.

“We sold the pound for 485 today, and dollar for 345, not much changed here between yesterday and today. We heard the CBN is still selling dollars, but everything is still normal here,” he said.

The European unifying currency, Euro, also stood stable at 385 at the black market.

The Euro depreciated by about two percent after the Brexit vote, while pound took about 12 percent plunge.