We update this article on a daily basis to stay current with the current exchange rate between Great Britain Pounds (GBP) and the Nigerian Naira.
This article contains all Pound to Naira exchange rates in Nigeria.
Here you will find the Pounds to Naira Black Market Rate, Pounds to Naira Bank Rate, Official Exchange Rate, Western Union Rates, and Money Gram Rate (pound to Naira).
Table of Contents
Pounds to Naira Black Market Rate
- Buying @ 1 Pound = 2,080 Naira
- Selling @ 1 Pound = 2,070 Naira
Pounds to Naira CBN Rate
- Buying @ 1 Pound = 2,060 Naira
- Selling @ 1 Pound = 2,061 Naira
Western Union Rates (GBP to NGN)
- Receiving @ between ₦1,900 – ₦2,000 per £1
MoneyGram Rate (GPB to NGN)
- Receiving @ between ₦1,900 – ₦2,000 per £1
All the prices and exchange rates we have here are very likely to vary. Exchange rates fluctuated almost every minute of the day, and different exchange institution prices did not match. With this, it will be difficult to ascertain the base exchange rate over time.
History Of The Great Britain Pound (GBP)
At various times in history, the pound sterling was commodity money or bank notes which are fully backed by either gold or silver.
But currently, the pounds are fiat money, backed by law in the areas where it is accepted.
The pound sterling today is the world’s oldest currency which is still in use. And also the oldest which has been in continuous use since its inception.
At first, the pound was a unit of account in Anglo-Saxon England; then it was equal to 240 silver pennies, it was equivalent to one pound weight of silver. With time it evolved into the British currency – the pound sterling.
Four farthings equal 1 penny, 12 pence equals 1 shilling, and 20 shillings equals 1 pound, this was the accounting system that was adopted.
The sterling origins lie in the reign of King Offa of Mercia, who introduced the silver penny although it copied the currency system of Charlemagne’s Frankish Empire.
As in the Carolingian system then, 240 pennies weigh 1 pound, with the shilling corresponding to Charlemagne’s solidus equal to 12d.
At the time the penny was introduced, it weighed 22.5 troy grains of fine silver, indicating that the Mercian pound weighed 5,400 troy grains.
During the medieval period, the early pennies were struck from fine silver.
After that, in 1158, King Henry II introduced a new coinage known as the “Tealby penny” It was struck from 0.925 (92.5%) silver. It as at then became the standard until the 20th century. It is today known as sterling silver. The association named it in charge of the currency.
The Sterling silver is more than 99.9% fine silver that was traditionally used. Sterling silver coins did not wear or tear as fast as fine silver coins.
The currency was almost a completely silver until the year 1344 when the gold noble came into circulation. The silver remained the legal basis for sterling until the year 1816.
During the time of Henry VIII and Edward VI, the silver coinage was very much debased, although the pound was redefined to the troy pound of 5,760 grains (373 g) back in 1526.
In the year 1544, a silver coinage contains just one-third silver and two-thirds copper, which is just 33.3% pure.
The result of this was coin copper in appearance, but it was more relative pale in color.
In 1552, a new silver coinage was introduced again, which was struck in sterling silver.
The weight was reduced up to 8 grains (0.52 g) so that one troy pound of sterling silver will produce 60 shillings of coins.
This silver standard was referred to as the “60-shilling standard,” and it lasted for some decades.
In 1601, a “62-shilling standard” was introduced, the penny’s weight was reduced to 7 23⁄31 grains (0.50 g).
The Unofficial gold standard
In 1663, the gold coinage was introduced based on 22 carat fine.
The weight is fixed at 44 1⁄2 to the troy pound from 1670. The value of this. The coin’s varied over the years until 1717.
In 1717 it was fixed at 21 shillings (21/-, 1.05 pounds). Despite the efforts of the Master of the Mint, to reduce the value, the valuation overvalued gold relative to silver whenever it is compared to the valuations in other countries.
As seen in Gresham’s law, British merchants sent silver abroad in payments, while at the same time goods for export were paid for with gold. The effect of these was flows of silver out and gold in, Great Britain was well on a gold standard.
Later on, their Trade with China aggravated this outflow, because the Chinese refused to accept anything except silver for the payments of exports.
Starting from the mid-17th century, about 28,000 metric tons of silver were received by China, in exchange for mainly Chinese tea and other goods the Chinese exported.
Great Britain now has to trade with other European countries so they can receive silver which they will use to trade with China.
Domestic takeoffs later reduced the amount of silver in circulation, as the steady fortunes improve of the merchant class led to increased demand for tablewares.
The Silversmiths had always regarded coinage only as a source of raw material, verified for fineness by the govt.
As a result, sterling coins were being melted and turned into fashioned sterling silverware at an accelerating rate.
To stem this tide, the 1697 Act of Parliament tried to raise the minimum acceptable fineness on wrought plate from sterling’s 92.5% to a Britannia silver standard of 95.83%.
Silverware that was made purely from melted coins would be found wanting when the silversmith took his wares to the Assay Office; this discouraged the melting of coins.
Introduction of the modern currency
According to records, the Bank of England was founded in the year 1694. Followed by it was the Bank of Scotland a year later. Both of them began to issue paper money.
The pound Scots once had the same value as the pound sterling, but it suffered far massive devaluation not until in the 17th century when it was pegged to sterling at a value of 12 pounds Scots equals to 1 pound sterling.
In 1801, Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland became united, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The Irish pound continued to exist the sterling did not replace it until 1826.
The conversion rate was long 13 Irish pounds to 12 pounds sterling. The Irish pound was later adopted in 1928, just six years after the Anglo-Irish Treaty restored Irish independence.
Sterling then circulated in most of the British Empire. Even in some parts, the sterling was used alongside the local currencies.
Take, for instance, the gold sovereign was legal tender in Canada despite the use of the Canadian dollar.
Many colonies and dominions adopted the pound as their main currency. Some places that did this are; Australia, British West Africa, Fiji, British India, Irish Free States, Jamaica, Barbados, Cyprus, New Zealand, Southern Rhodesia, and South Africa.
Some of them even retained parity with sterling all through their existence. At the same time, others like the Australian pound deviated from the parity at the end of the gold standard era.
The Gold Standard Era
During the time of the American War of Independence, the Bank of England notes were legal tender, and their value floated relative to the cost of gold. The Bank of English also issued silver tokens to alleviate the shortage of silver coins.
In 1816, the gold standard was fully adopted, and the silver standard was reduced to 66 shillings, rendering silver coins as a simple “token” money (Token money is money not containing their value in precious metal).
In the 19th century, the pound sterling was broadly accepted outside Britain, in the early 20th century, many countries adopted the gold standard, which made the conversion rates between different currencies simple based on their gold standards.
The gold standard was suspended in 1914 after the outbreak of the war, with Bank of England and Treasury notes becoming major legal tender.
Just before the First World War, the United Kingdom had one of the strongest economies in the world. They were holding about 40% of the world’s overseas investments.
After the end of the First World War, they were indebted, Britain owed £850 million as of then also with interest. This cost the country 40% of all government spending.
In 1925 a version of the gold standard was introduced. The currency was fixed to gold at its pre-war peg, but one could only exchange it for gold bullion, not for coins.
It was abandoned in 1931, during the Great Depression, after which sterling suffered an initial devaluation of about 25%.
In the year 1940, an agreement with the United States pegged the pound to the United States Dollar at a rate of £1 equals to $4.03.
The pegged rate was maintained throughout World War 2, and it became part of the Bretton Woods system, which then governed the exchange rates.
Due to the continuous economic pressure, On the 19 of September 1949, the government devalued the pound by 30.5%.
Between 1961 and 1966, the pound came under renewed pressure, as most speculators were selling their pounds for dollars.
Decimalization of the pound
Proposal to decimalization of the sterling was first made formal in 1824 when Sir John Wrottesley, asked whether consideration had been given to decimalizing the currency.
He raised the issue in the House of Commons again in 1833, and it was again raised by, MP for Kilmarnock Burghs, in the year 1847. These efforts led to the introduction of what was in effect the first decimal coin in the United Kingdom in 1848, the florin, valued at 1/10 of a pound sterling.
A proposal for full decimalization of sterling was then tabled in the House on June 1855, by William, with a suggestion that pound sterling be divided into one thousand parts, each should be called a “mil”, or a farthing, as the pound was then an equivalent of 960 farthings which can be rounded up to one thousand farthings.
It still didn’t result in the conversion of the pound sterling into a decimal-based system, but it was agreed to establish a Commission to look into the issue critically.
Due to the hostility to decimalization of two of the appointed commissioners, John Hubbard who was then the Governor of the Bank of England, and Lord Overstone, a renowned banker.
Decimalization in Britain was effectively quashed for over a hundred years; the pound sterling was decimalized in several British colonial territories before the United Kingdom.
Later, in 1966, the British government included in the Queen’s Speech – a plan to convert the pound into a decimal currency.
As a result, on the 15 days of February 1971, the UK decimalized the pound sterling, replacing both the shilling and the penny with a single subdivision.
Following inflation targets In 1997, the elected Labour government handed over the day-to-day control of interest rates to the Bank of England.
The Bank of England is responsible for setting its base rate of interest to keep inflation close to 2% per annum.
Should the CPI inflation be more than 1 above or below the target, the Bank of England governor is required to write an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining the reasons for this and the best measures that should be taken to bring the measure of inflation back in line.
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