Google takes down inaccurate N184/$ fx rate

Google Africa has removed the conversion onebox that shows a dollar exchanging for N184 naira after the curious rate sparked confusion on social media.

Google had said in a 10:38pm tweet Friday that it was aware of “inaccurate conversions for the Nigerian naira currency” and would “disable it from appearing in search results until it is able to diagnose the issue.”

None of Nigeria’s multiple exchange rates was quoted as low as N184/$ on Friday rather the rates ranged between the N306/$ CBN rate and the N362/$ parallel market rate, where they have been for nearly two years now.

The exchange rate hasn’t been as low as N184/$ since 2015, according to CBN data.

It’s therefore illogical to suggest the rate could go from nearly N400 to N184 in a matter of hours. Google provided no details on the source of the rate.

None of the FX trading platforms quoted a rate that weak.

However, Aboki FX, one of the platforms that provide parallel market rates, said “something went wrong” on its website and was so it displayed no quote at all.

While the source of the Google currency converter, which aggregates FX rates from popular FX trading platforms, remains unclear, Business Day can authoritatively report that the exchange rate is nowhere near the N184/$ quoted on Google and the company’s removal of the rate should put paid to any confusion.

Bloomberg, Reuters and local trading platform, FMDQ, all quoted N361/$ at Friday’s close. When the CBN stuck with its N306 rate as displayed on its website.

BusinessDay also confirmed that no trader in the black market sold dollars anything less than N360 Friday.