Bank of Laos Exchange Rate API: Official LAK Rates as JSON

The Bank of the Lao PDR publishes the official exchange rates that accounting, tax, and customs practice in Laos reference — published official rates, not moving market prices. This guide shows how to pull them as JSON: via a REST endpoint or the zero-dependency bank-of-laos-exchange-rate npm package.

A series that captured a devaluation

The BOL reference rate anchors the band within which Lao commercial banks may quote, published each business day as separate buying and selling rates for 14 currencies. The archive holds one of the sharpest currency moves of the decade: the kip went from about 9,300 per dollar at the start of 2021 to over 21,000 by 2025, and the official record of that move is exactly what audits of kip-denominated accounts need.

Why official rates, not market rates

A live mid-market feed answers "what is USD/LAK trading at right now?" — the right tool for checkouts and dashboards. But accountants, auditors, and tax authorities ask a different question: "which rate were you required to use for this date?" That answer comes from the Bank of the Lao PDR’s published rates, and it never changes after publication.

Get the latest rates (REST)

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/central-bank/bol/latest" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

The response is the bank's most recent published table — every rate and the publication date. The latest rates are available on every plan, including the free tier (300 requests/month, no credit card).

The npm SDK

npm install bank-of-laos-exchange-rate

import { getRate, getLatestRates } from 'bank-of-laos-exchange-rate';

// One pair at the official rate
const pair = await getRate('USD', 'LAK', { apiKey: 'art_live_...' });
console.log(pair.rate, pair.rate_date);

// The bank's full published table
const table = await getLatestRates({ apiKey: 'art_live_...' });
console.log(table.rate_date, table.rates.length);

Zero dependencies, TypeScript types included, and it runs anywhere fetch exists — Node 18+, Bun, Deno, and edge runtimes.

Historical rates for an invoice date

import { getRatesForDate, getHistory } from 'bank-of-laos-exchange-rate';

const day = await getRatesForDate('2026-08-18', { apiKey: 'art_live_...' });

const series = await getHistory(
  { source: 'USD', target: 'LAK', from: '2026-01-01' },
  { apiKey: 'art_live_...' }
);

Historical dates and time series need a paid plan; the latest rates stay free.

Published vs derived pairs

If the Bank of the Lao PDR does not print a pair directly, the API resolves it from the bank's published rates — an inverse, or a cross via LAK — and flags it derived: true with the method used. Official and computed values are never silently mixed, which is exactly the distinction an auditor will ask about.

The archive

We hold every published business day since January 2021 — the era that matters for the kip — and the series grows daily from the bank’s own table.

FAQ

Does the Bank of the Lao PDR have an official exchange rate API?

The bank publishes its official rates on its own site, and AllRatesToday serves the same published rates as clean JSON via REST or the bank-of-laos-exchange-rate npm package. The latest table is free.

How do I get the official Laos exchange rate for a past date?

The rates-for-date endpoint returns the official table for any archived date; non-publication days resolve to the most recent published date and are flagged, so audit trails stay honest. Historical dates require a paid plan; latest rates are free.

Are Bank of Laos rates the same as money-changer rates in Vientiane?

No. The BOL publishes the official reference band that banks must respect; parallel-market rates can differ. Official filings cite the BOL reference rates, which is what this API serves.