ECB Statistics Scraper

Fetch time-series economic and financial data from the European Central Bank (ECB) Statistical Data Warehouse — the official source for eurozone exchange rates, interest rates, money supply, inflation, balance of payments, and 100+ other macroeconomic indicators. No API key or registration required.

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What data can I get?

• Exchange rates (EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, and 50+ currencies) — daily, monthly, quarterly, annual
• Euro area interest rates — ECB policy rates, EURIBOR, government bond yields
• Money and banking statistics — M1/M2/M3 money supply, bank lending, deposits
• Inflation & HICP — euro area consumer price indices, national breakdowns
• Balance of payments — current account, trade, capital flows
• Macro-national accounts — GDP, investment, consumption (100+ series)
• And 100+ additional datasets across 103 ECB statistical dataflows

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Modes

Fetch Time Series (fetchSeries)

Retrieve actual observations (data points) for a specific statistical series. Each output record is one observation (e.g., one month's EUR/USD exchange rate).

Input:

• datasetId: The dataset identifier (e.g., EXR for Exchange Rates)
• seriesKey: Dot-separated dimension values that identify the series (e.g., M.USD.EUR.SP00.A)
• lastNObservations: How many of the most recent observations to fetch (default: 24)
• startPeriod / endPeriod: Optional date range filters (e.g., 2020-01 to 2024-12)

Example output record:

{
  "dataset_id": "EXR",
  "series_key": "M.USD.EUR.SP00.A",
  "date": "2024-05",
  "value": 1.0801,
  "unit": "USD",
  "freq": "M",
  "currency": "USD",
  "currency_denom": "EUR",
  "exr_type": "SP00",
  "exr_suffix": "A",
  "series_title": "ECB reference exchange rate, US dollar/Euro, 2.15 pm (C.E.T.)",
  "scrapedAt": "2024-06-01T12:00:00+00:00"
}

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List All Datasets (listDatasets)

Discover all 103 ECB statistical datasets (dataflows) available in the data warehouse.

Example output record:

{
  "id": "EXR",
  "name": "Exchange Rates",
  "agency": "ECB",
  "version": "1.0",
  "scrapedAt": "2024-06-01T12:00:00+00:00"
}

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Browse Series Keys (browseSeries)

Explore all available series within a specific dataset. Use this to discover which series keys are valid before fetching observations.

Input: datasetId (required)

Example output record:

{
  "dataset_id": "EXR",
  "series_key": "M.USD.EUR.SP00.A",
  "freq": "M",
  "currency": "USD",
  "currency_denom": "EUR",
  "exr_type": "SP00",
  "exr_suffix": "A",
  "scrapedAt": "2024-06-01T12:00:00+00:00"
}

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Common Series Keys

Description	datasetId	seriesKey
EUR/USD monthly average	EXR	M.USD.EUR.SP00.A
EUR/GBP monthly average	EXR	M.GBP.EUR.SP00.A
EUR/JPY monthly average	EXR	M.JPY.EUR.SP00.A
EUR/CHF daily rate	EXR	D.CHF.EUR.SP00.A
EUR/CNY monthly average	EXR	M.CNY.EUR.SP00.A

For other datasets (HICP, BSI, MNA, etc.), use browseSeries mode to discover valid series keys.

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
mode	select	fetchSeries	What to fetch: fetchSeries, listDatasets, or browseSeries
datasetId	string	EXR	ECB dataset ID (e.g., EXR, BSI, ILM, MNA, HICP)
seriesKey	string	M.USD.EUR.SP00.A	Dot-separated series identifier
lastNObservations	integer	24	Number of most recent data points (0 = all available)
startPeriod	string	—	Start of date range (e.g., 2020-01)
endPeriod	string	—	End of date range (e.g., 2024-12)
maxItems	integer	200	Maximum records to return

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Output Fields (fetchSeries mode)

Field	Type	Description
dataset_id	string	ECB dataset identifier (e.g., "EXR")
series_key	string	Full dot-separated series key
date	string	Observation period (e.g., "2024-01" for monthly)
value	number	The numeric statistical value
unit	string	Measurement unit (e.g., "USD", "EUR", "PURE_NUMB")
freq	string	Frequency: D (daily), M (monthly), Q (quarterly), A (annual)
series_title	string	Human-readable description of the series
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp when the record was collected

Additional dimension fields (e.g., currency, currency_denom, exr_type) are included depending on the dataset.

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Data Source

All data is sourced from the ECB Statistical Data Warehouse (SDW) public REST API at https://data-api.ecb.europa.eu/service/. This is the official ECB open data platform — no registration, API keys, or authentication is required. Data is published by the European Central Bank and National Central Banks of the Eurosystem.

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FAQs

Q: How current is the data?
A: Exchange rates and most financial statistics are updated daily or monthly by the ECB. The API always returns the latest published data.

Q: How do I find the right series key?
A: Use listDatasets mode to find dataset IDs, then browseSeries mode on the dataset to discover available series keys. The ECB's official SDW browser at sdw.ecb.europa.eu also shows series keys.

Q: What does the seriesKey format mean?
A: Each dot-separated part corresponds to a dimension of the dataset. For EXR: FREQ.CURRENCY.CURRENCY_DENOM.EXR_TYPE.EXR_SUFFIX — e.g., M.USD.EUR.SP00.A means Monthly, USD, Euro-denominated, Spot rate, Average.

Q: Can I fetch multiple series at once?
A: The current mode fetches one series at a time. Use browseSeries to list all series and run multiple actor calls, or use wildcards in the series key where the API supports them (e.g., M.*.EUR.SP00.A fetches all currencies).

Q: What is the maximum date range I can request?
A: The ECB API returns up to 1000 observations per series. Set lastNObservations=0 to fetch all available history, or use startPeriod/endPeriod to specify a range.

Q: Does this require a proxy or API key?
A: No. The ECB SDW is a free public API with no rate limits, no authentication, and no proxy required.

Q: What currencies are available for exchange rates?
A: The ECB publishes reference rates for 50+ currencies against the Euro, including USD, GBP, JPY, CHF, CNY, CAD, AUD, SEK, NOK, and many more. Use browseSeries on the EXR dataset to see the full list.