Official Central Bank Exchange Rates

On this page, we’ll dive into the official exchange rates endpoints you can use to retrieve the exchange rates central banks like the ECB, the Federal Reserve or the Bank of England officially publish, including their full history.

Official rates are what accounting, invoicing, tax and customs rules usually refer to. Unlike /latest and /historical, which aggregate market data, these endpoints return each central bank’s own publication: one set of rates per business day, never blended, smoothed or filled in.

Sources

35 central banks and official fixing authorities on six continents. Each bank links to its public rate page with today’s rates, charts and yearly averages. More banks are added as they publish machine-readable rates.

Europe

Asia and the Middle East

Oceania

Americas

Africa

The currencies each bank publishes, its publication schedule and the exact first and last date of its history are available from /v3/official/sources. Rates are imported within the hour after a bank publishes them.

How the values work

• Normalised quotation. Banks quote in different directions and units (the CNB publishes CZK per 100 JPY, the Fed publishes USD per EUR but JPY per USD). Every value is normalised to units of currency per 1 unit of base_currency, like the rest of the API. Apart from that the values are exactly as published.
• Official against the bank’s currency. By default base_currency is the bank’s own currency (EUR for ecb, PLN for nbp, ...) and every value is official. With any other base_currency the values are cross rates calculated from the official ones, and meta.cross_rates is true. The bank’s own currency is included in that case, so source=nbp&base_currency=USD&currencies=PLN returns the official PLN rate for 1 USD.
• Business days only. Banks do not publish on weekends and holidays. When you request such a date, you get the bank’s newest publication from up to 14 days before it; meta.date tells you which day the rates are for. The NBU sets a rate for every calendar day, a day in advance.
• Publication references. Where a bank numbers its publications, meta.reference carries the number, e.g. the NBP table number (188/A/NBP/2026) or the TCMB bulletin number, so you can cite it on invoices and filings.
• Buying rates. A few banks (TCMB, Bank Indonesia, Nepal Rastra Bank) publish buying and selling rates but no middle rate. Their buying rate is served, as the rate type says; nothing is averaged.
• Precision. Some banks publish weak currencies with few significant digits (the Riksbank publishes 1 IDR as 0.00055 SEK). Those values are served as published, so cross rates derived from them are only as precise as the bank’s figure. Quotations with a single significant digit are too coarse to convert with and are left out.

curl -G https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official \
    -d source=nbp \
    -d date=2026-09-28 \
    -d base_currency=USD \
    -d currencies=PLN \
    -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY"

{
    "meta": {
        "source": "nbp",
        "source_name": "National Bank of Poland",
        "date": "2026-09-28",
        "requested_date": "2026-09-28",
        "base_currency": "USD",
        "source_base_currency": "PLN",
        "cross_rates": true,
        "reference": "188/A/NBP/2026",
        "last_updated_at": "2026-09-28T10:07:12Z"
    },
    "data": {
        "PLN": {
            "code": "PLN",
            "value": 3.8478
        }
    }
}

curl -G https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official/range \
    -d source=ecb \
    -d date_from=2026-08-01 \
    -d date_to=2026-09-29 \
    -d currencies=USD \
    -d accuracy=month \
    -d format=csv \
    -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY"

date,source,base_currency,currency,value,reference
2026-08-31,ecb,EUR,USD,1.17,
2026-09-28,ecb,EUR,USD,1.1378,

curl -G https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official/range \
    -d source=ecb \
    -d date_from=2026-09-01 \
    -d date_to=2026-09-30 \
    -d currencies=USD \
    -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY"

{
    "meta": {
        "source": "ecb",
        "source_name": "European Central Bank",
        "base_currency": "EUR",
        "source_base_currency": "EUR",
        "cross_rates": false
    },
    "data": [
        {
            "date": "2026-09-25",
            "reference": null,
            "currencies": {
                "USD": {
                    "code": "USD",
                    "value": 1.1403
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "date": "2026-09-28",
            "reference": null,
            "currencies": {
                "USD": {
                    "code": "USD",
                    "value": 1.1378
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

curl -G https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official/sources \
    -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY"

{
    "data": {
        "ecb": {
            "code": "ecb",
            "name": "European Central Bank",
            "country": "EU",
            "region": "europe",
            "base_currency": "EUR",
            "rate_type": "Euro foreign exchange reference rates",
            "schedule": "Every TARGET2 business day at around 16:00 CET",
            "website": "https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/index.en.html",
            "history": {
                "from": "1999-01-04",
                "to": "2026-09-28"
            },
            "currencies": ["AUD", "BRL", "CAD", "..."]
        },
        "...": "34 more central banks"
    }
}

Finding a source for a currency

/v3/official/sources?currency=KZT lists every bank that publishes a rate for the tenge (and the National Bank of Kazakhstan, which publishes against it). Add region=asia (or europe, africa, north-america, south-america, oceania) to narrow it down. The endpoint is free: it never counts against your quota.

Comparing official rates

To see one currency pair as every central bank published it, for example EUR to USD at the ECB, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England side by side, use /v3/official/compare.

CSV and caching

• CSV. Add format=csv to /v3/official or /v3/official/range for one row per currency and publication: date,source,base_currency,currency,value,reference. Values never use exponent notation, so Excel and Google Sheets read them as numbers.
• Excel. format=xlsx gives the same table as an Excel workbook, downloaded as official.xlsx or official-range.xlsx, see Excel downloads.
• Conditional requests. Every response carries an ETag. Send it back as If-None-Match and an unchanged response comes back as 304 Not Modified without a body. Cache-Control tells you how long a response stays current: 5 minutes for recent publications, a day for settled ones.

Official vs. market rates

Add compare=market to /v3/official or /v3/official/range to see how far each official rate is from the market. Every rate then carries two more fields:

• market: the market rate for the publication day, in the same units as value. It is that day’s close from /v3/historical; for a publication dated today it is the latest market rate at your plan’s update interval, like /v3/latest.
• difference_pct: (official / market − 1) × 100, rounded to 4 decimals. Positive when the official rate is above the market.

Both are null where the market has no rate for the currency or the base currency. meta.market_last_updated_at (on /v3/official/range: each entry’s market_last_updated_at) says when the market rate is from. The official value stays exactly as published, and the request costs the same. With format=csv or xlsx the table gains the columns market,difference_pct. The accounting imports carry the official rates only, so compare with format=datev, erpnext or odoo returns a 422.

curl -G https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official \
    -d source=ecb \
    -d date=2026-09-25 \
    -d currencies=USD \
    -d compare=market \
    -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY"

{
    "meta": {
        "source": "ecb",
        "source_name": "European Central Bank",
        "date": "2026-09-25",
        "requested_date": "2026-09-25",
        "base_currency": "EUR",
        "source_base_currency": "EUR",
        "cross_rates": false,
        "reference": null,
        "last_updated_at": "2026-09-25T14:16:03Z",
        "market_last_updated_at": "2026-09-25T23:59:59Z"
    },
    "data": {
        "USD": {
            "code": "USD",
            "value": 1.1403,
            "market": 1.1402508552,
            "difference_pct": 0.0043
        }
    }
}

date,source,base_currency,currency,value,reference,market,difference_pct
2026-09-25,ecb,EUR,USD,1.1403,,1.140250855,0.0043

Importing into accounting software

/v3/official/range also returns the rates as a file your accounting software imports as its exchange rate table: add format=datev, format=erpnext or format=odoo. The file comes as a download named {source}-{format}-{date_from}-{date_to}.csv, e.g. ecb-datev-2026-09-01-2026-09-30.csv, and costs one request like any range request. Combine it with accuracy=month to import only month-end rates.

DATEV

For the Kurstabelle of DATEV Kanzlei-Rechnungswesen and DATEV Rechnungswesen (import described in DATEV Dok.-Nr. 1015760). DATEV keeps rates against the euro, so the rates must be against EUR: use a bank that publishes against EUR such as ecb, or set base_currency=EUR. Any other base currency returns a 422.

curl -G https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official/range \
    -d source=ecb \
    -d date_from=2026-09-25 \
    -d date_to=2026-09-28 \
    -d currencies=USD,GBP \
    -d format=datev \
    -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY" \
    -o ecb-datev-2026-09-25-2026-09-28.csv

EUR;GBP;25.09.2026;25.09.2026;0,860450;European Central Bank;5
EUR;GBP;28.09.2026;28.09.2026;0,857850;European Central Bank;5
EUR;USD;25.09.2026;25.09.2026;1,140300;European Central Bank;5
EUR;USD;28.09.2026;28.09.2026;1,137800;European Central Bank;5

Each line is one rate: Währung 1;Währung 2;Datum von;Datum bis;Kurs;Notiz;Kurstyp. The Kurs is the units of Währung 2 for 1 EUR with 6 decimals and a decimal comma, valid for the one day in Datum von and Datum bis; the Notiz is the name of the bank and the Kurstyp is 5 (Freier Kurs).

1. Download the file as above.
2. In DATEV Kanzlei-Rechnungswesen or DATEV Rechnungswesen, open the Kurstabelle and choose Importieren.
3. The first time, create an ASCII import format with the fields in this order: Währung 1, Währung 2, Datum von, Datum bis, Kurs, Notiz, Kurstyp. Set the field separator to ; and no text delimiter. The file has no header line.
4. Select the downloaded file with that import format and start the import. The rates appear in the Kurstabelle as Freier Kurs.

ERPNext

For the Currency Exchange records of ERPNext. Set base_currency to your company’s currency; every row then converts one foreign currency into it.

curl -G https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official/range \
    -d source=ecb \
    -d date_from=2026-09-25 \
    -d date_to=2026-09-28 \
    -d currencies=USD \
    -d format=erpnext \
    -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY" \
    -o ecb-erpnext-2026-09-25-2026-09-28.csv

Date,From Currency,To Currency,Exchange Rate,For Buying,For Selling
2026-09-25,USD,EUR,0.876962203,1,1
2026-09-28,USD,EUR,0.878889084,1,1

From Currency is the foreign currency, To Currency the base currency, and Exchange Rate the units of the base currency for 1 unit of the foreign currency (9 decimals), valid for buying and selling.

1. Download the file as above.
2. In ERPNext, create a new Data Import: Document Type Currency Exchange, Import Type Insert New Records, and save it.
3. Attach the downloaded file as the Import File. ERPNext maps the columns by their names; check the preview.
4. Click Start Import. The rates appear in the Currency Exchange list.

Odoo

For the rates of one currency in Odoo, which imports the rates of each currency separately. Request exactly one currency (more return a 422) and set base_currency to your company’s currency.

curl -G https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official/range \
    -d source=ecb \
    -d date_from=2026-09-25 \
    -d date_to=2026-09-28 \
    -d currencies=USD \
    -d format=odoo \
    -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY" \
    -o ecb-odoo-2026-09-25-2026-09-28.csv

name,company_rate
2026-09-28,1.1378
2026-09-25,1.1403

name is the date and company_rate the units of the currency for 1 unit of the base currency (Odoo’s "Unit per" rate), newest first as Odoo lists them.

1. Download the file as above.
2. In Odoo, go to Accounting → Configuration → Currencies and open the currency (activate it first if needed).
3. Open its list of rates and choose Import records from the actions menu.
4. Upload the downloaded file, check that name and company_rate are mapped to the date and the company rate, then click Import.

Errors

Every error response carries a stable, machine-readable error.code next to the human-readable message, actions with links to the next step, and an info link to this page.

{
    "message": "European Central Bank published no official rates on 1998-06-01 or in the 14 days before it.",
    "error": {
        "code": "no_rates_published",
        "message": "European Central Bank published no official rates on 1998-06-01 or in the 14 days before it."
    },
    "actions": {
        "sources": "https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/official/sources",
        "docs": "https://currencyapi.com/docs/openapi.yaml"
    },
    "info": "For more information, see documentation: https://currencyapi.com/docs/official"
}

See Request Status Codes for the errors every endpoint shares.