Commercial Bank of Ethiopia Exchange Rate API: ETB Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is Ethiopia’s largest bank, state-owned and founded in 1963. Its daily exchange rates list transaction and cash buying and selling rates against the birr for about 18 currencies. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the National Bank of Ethiopia official rate and with other banks in Ethiopia, and the calls that return them.

What the CBE board shows

• 18 currencies against the Ethiopian birr: AED, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, DJF, DKK, EUR, GBP, INR, JPY, KES, KWD, NOK, SAR, SEK, USD and ZAR. Every value is ETB per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The transaction buy / sell pair. Since the birr was floated in July 2024, each Ethiopian bank sets its own buying and selling rates every morning, and they differ from bank to bank. Most banks publish a transaction (transfer) rate and a separate cash-note rate; the transaction pair is shown. The National Bank of Ethiopia’s official weighted-average rate is shown next to each row.
• USD on 15 November 2026: CBE bought at 161 and sold at 164.22 ETB, a spread of 1.98%. The National Bank of Ethiopia official rate was 162.81, so the bank's mid sat -0.12% from it.
• The bank's own timestamp. The page prints a last-updated stamp (2026-11-14T05:51:01.434Z on the board above), returned as bank_updated_at next to our captured_at.
• Every day's board is kept permanently, from 13 November 2026. Read one past day with ?date=, or a range for one currency with the /history endpoint (paid plans).

Spreads across the board

On the 15 November 2026 board the tightest spreads were JPY (1.98%), DJF (1.98%), AED (1.98%) and the widest INR (1.99%), ZAR (1.98%), USD (1.98%). Spread is (sell − buy) ÷ mid: what a round trip through the bank costs, before any fees. The API returns it on every row as spread_pct, so you can rank currencies or alert when a bank widens its board.

USD at CBE and other banks in Ethiopia

USD on the 20 boards AllRatesToday reads in Ethiopia, all captured on 15 November 2026 (the National Bank of Ethiopia official rate was 162.81):

CBE had the 2nd narrowest USD spread of the 20. One call to /api/v1/bank-rates/et returns every board in the table at once.

Get the board (REST)

You need an API key; the free key works. The full board:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/et/cbeth" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

What comes back (the 15 November 2026 board, first three rows):

{
  "bank": "cbeth",
  "name": "Commercial Bank of Ethiopia",
  "country": "et",
  "quote_ccy": "ETB",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-14T05:51:01.434Z",
  "basis": "Transaction buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-14T13:46:29.138Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"AED","buy":43.8383,"sell":44.7151,"mid":44.2767,"spread_pct":1.98,"official":44.3237,"vs_official_pct":-0.106},
    {"ccy":"AUD","buy":112.9288,"sell":115.1874,"mid":114.0581,"spread_pct":1.98,"official":111.0333,"vs_official_pct":2.724},
    {"ccy":"CAD","buy":115.5565,"sell":117.8677,"mid":116.7121,"spread_pct":1.98,"official":114.1853,"vs_official_pct":2.213},
    … 15 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

One currency, with the row fields at the top level:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/et/cbeth?ccy=USD" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

{
  "bank": "cbeth",
  "name": "Commercial Bank of Ethiopia",
  "country": "et",
  "quote_ccy": "ETB",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-14T05:51:01.434Z",
  "basis": "Transaction buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-14T13:46:29.138Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 161.0049,
  "sell": 164.225,
  "mid": 162.61495,
  "spread_pct": 1.98,
  "official": 162.8054,
  "vs_official_pct": -0.117,
  "disclaimer": "Retail buy/sell rates as displayed on each bank’s own website at capture time, quoted as home currency per 1 unit of foreign currency. Indicative only: banks change these through the day, apply them at the counter or in-app, and they are not official or reference rates. For the rate a regulation names, use the central-bank endpoints.",
  "attribution": {
    "source": "Board rates published by Commercial Bank of Ethiopia on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://combanketh.et/exchange-rates",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/et/cbeth/",
    "terms": "Public pages that show the rates need a visible link to allratestoday.com"
  }
}

The board as it stood on a past day:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/et/cbeth?date=2026-11-13" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

One currency over a date range, one row per day (paid plans; add &format=csv, xml or xlsx for a file):

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/et/cbeth/history?ccy=USD&from=2026-11-13&to=2026-11-15" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

JavaScript

npm install @allratestoday/sdk

import { AllRatesToday } from '@allratestoday/sdk';

const client = new AllRatesToday({ apiKey: 'art_live_your_key' });

// Commercial Bank of Ethiopia's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('et', { bank: 'cbeth', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`CBE buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} ETB`);

// The board as it stood on a past day
const past = await client.bankRates('et', { bank: 'cbeth', date: '2026-11-13' });
console.log(past.snapshot_date, past.rates.length);

Python

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/et/cbeth",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer art_live_your_key"},
    timeout=10,
)
r.raise_for_status()
for row in r.json()["rates"]:
    print(row["ccy"], row["buy"], row["sell"], row["spread_pct"])

Board rate or official rate?

The National Bank of Ethiopia rate is the one tax, accounting and customs rules in Ethiopia name; nobody transacts at it. CBE's board is the price a customer actually gets. The API puts both on every row: official is the central bank's rate for the same currency and vs_official_pct is how far the bank's mid sits from it. Use the board to show customers a real price, compare banks for a remittance, or keep a dated record of what the bank quoted; use the National Bank of Ethiopia endpoint when a rule asks for the official rate.

FAQ

Where do the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://combanketh.et/exchange-rates), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price CBE shows, with the mid, the spread and the National Bank of Ethiopia rate added.

Are these the official ETB exchange rates?

No. They are CBE's retail prices for customers. The official rate in Ethiopia is the National Bank of Ethiopia rate, which the API returns as official on each row where the central bank has one, and in full from the central-bank endpoint.

How often is the CBE board updated?

AllRatesToday reads the page every hour. The bank's own last-updated stamp is returned as bank_updated_at, so you can tell a fresh read of an unchanged board from a new board.

Can I get CBE rates for a past date?

Yes, from 13 November 2026 onward; every day's board is kept permanently. Add ?date=YYYY-MM-DD for one day: the response is the board captured that day, or the nearest earlier day within five days, with date_requested and snapshot_date added. For a range, /history?ccy=USD&from=…&to=… returns one row per day as JSON, CSV, XML or XLSX on paid plans.

Do I need an API key?

Yes. Commercial bank boards need an API key; any plan works, the free key included, and each call counts against the plan. Public pages or widgets that show the rates need a visible link to allratestoday.com.