KUALA LUMPUR – Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) today dismissed the inaccurate ringgit exchange rate data circulating on social media, which was based on an erroneous USD/RM exchange rate published by Google on Friday, March 15.
“This is inaccurate information which does not reflect the actual trading,” it said in a statement.
Yesterday, the ringgit was quoted at 4.7015 against the US dollar at 9am and 4.7045 at 5pm, with an intraday high of 4.7075 in the onshore interbank market for ringgit, as published on the BNM website.
However, Google showed the ringgit to be traded at 4.98 against the dollar.
It said that this was the second incident in which Google had published inaccurate USD/RM exchange rate data in 2024.
BNM had earlier issued a stern warning letter to Google when the first misreporting occurred on February 6, 2024.
“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,” it added.
In light of this, BNM also urged the people to only rely on official data, including from the central bank.
“The public should also exercise caution against using, circulating or speculating on unverifiable sources as a reference for the ringgit.
“The exchange rate is a market-sensitive data and any inaccurate reporting and circulation of unverified data can cause serious implications for the financial markets,” it added.
The ringgit concluded the week on a weaker note against the US dollar, mirroring the trend among regional currencies, following the release of US producer price index data that exceeded expectations.
By 6pm on Friday, the ringgit had depreciated to 4.7050/7095 against the greenback, down from Thursday’s closing rate of 4.6845/6878. – March 16, 2024