Malaysia flags Google for second ringgit misquote incident

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's central bank said on Saturday 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 percent 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.

The flawed exchange rates between the US dollar and ringgit were displayed by Google on March 15, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said in a statement to national news agency Bernama on Saturday. “This is inaccurate information that does not reflect the actual trading.”

"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.

“The exchange rate is market-sensitive data and any inaccurate reporting and circulation of unverified data can cause serious implications for the financial markets.”

It did not elaborate. Google was not immediately available for comment outside of U.S. 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.