Google Malaysia apologises for misquoting ringgit exchange rate

KUALA LUMPUR: Google Malaysia on Monday apologised for misquoting the ringgit's exchange rate, after the country's central bank called out its error, saying the tech giant had undervalued the currency against the dollar.

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

Google Malaysia on Monday apologised for the error, adding the issue had been resolved.

"We immediately contacted the third party that provides USD-MYR exchange rate information to correct the error," it said in a post on social media platform X.

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

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 9 a.m. and 4.7045 at 5 p.m. on the onshore interbank market. For comparison, LSEG data used by many international market participants quoted 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 remained stable.

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