Malaysia central bank says Google misquoted exchange rate a second time

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's central bank said on Saturday (March 16) that Google had misquoted the ringgit's exchange rate, undervaluing the currency against the dollar, and that it would seek an explanation from the tech giant.

The ringgit, which declined to a 26-year low last month, has weakened about 2.44 per cent this year. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has said the currency is undervalued and does not reflect Malaysia's positive economic fundamentals.

The bank said in a statement that Alphabet Inc's Google published "inaccurate" information on Friday and had also done so on Feb 6.

"As this is the second instance of misreporting, BNM will be engaging Google for an explanation of how the inaccurate reporting occurred and the corrective measures taken given that this is a recurring issue that has afflicted Malaysia and other countries in the past few months," BNM said in a statement.

It did not elaborate. Google was not immediately available for comment outside of US business hours.

The search giant does not verify data provided by financial exchanges and other content providers, and disclaims any obligation to do so, according to disclaimers on its website.

Google quoted the ringgit at 4.98 to the dollar on Friday, BNM said, while the Malaysian currency's weakest level on official data was 4.7075.

BNM quoted the ringgit at 4.7015 at 9am and 4.7045 at 5pm on the onshore interbank market. For comparison, LSEG data used by many international market participants quotes a Friday close of 4.7020.

BNM Governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said last week Malaysia's government and central bank were taking coordinated action to further increase flows into the foreign exchange market to ensure the ringgit remains stable.

ALSO READ: Ringgit hits record low against Singapore dollar but not everyone is rushing to money changers