Exchange Rate API for Ethiopia: NBE Official Rate and All 15 Bank Boards

One exchange rate API for Ethiopia: the National Bank of Ethiopia official buying, selling and weighted-average rates for 19 currencies, the USD buying and selling boards of CBE, Dashen, Bank of Abyssinia and 12 more Ethiopian banks read hourly, and live ETB market rates. JSON, CSV, XLSX. Free key.

By Madhushan, Founder & Lead Developer · Updated 13 Nov 2026

In one line: the National Bank of Ethiopia official rate for 19 currencies, the buying and selling boards of 15 Ethiopian banks read every hour, and the live ETB market rate, from one REST API in JSON, CSV or Excel. Start with a free key. No card.

Since the birr was floated on 29 July 2024, there is no single birr rate. Each Ethiopian bank sets its own buying and selling rates every morning, and the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) prints an official weighted average of what banks actually traded the day before. Tax, VAT and customs rules point to the NBE rate; a transfer or a cash exchange happens at a bank's board. This API returns both, side by side, so you can see what every bank is paying for a dollar today.

Which ETB rate applies to what

The NBE table is read from the bank's own page and never revised afterwards, so a figure fetched for a past date is the figure an auditor will find.

National Bank of Ethiopia official rate

Under the foreign exchange directive, banks report the rates they used each day and the NBE issues a weighted average of those transactions by the start of the next business day. The table covers 19 currencies, from the US dollar, euro and pound to the dirham, riyal, yuan, Kenyan shilling, Djibouti franc and SDR, and each row carries a buying rate, a selling rate and the weighted average ("type": "reference" in the response). It usually appears around 10 am Addis Ababa time; available_by_utc tells a scheduled job when to call.

# Official NBE table for today
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/central-bank/nbe/latest" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

{
  "bank": "nbe",
  "rate_date": "2026-11-13",
  "cadence": "daily",
  "available_by_utc": "07:20",
  "publisher_timezone": "Africa/Addis_Ababa",
  "rates": [
    { "base": "USD", "quote": "ETB", "type": "buy", "value": 161.1935 },
    { "base": "USD", "quote": "ETB", "type": "reference", "value": 161.1935 },
    { "base": "USD", "quote": "ETB", "type": "sell", "value": 162.8054 },
    { "base": "EUR", "quote": "ETB", "type": "buy", "value": 178.7152 },
    { "base": "EUR", "quote": "ETB", "type": "reference", "value": 179.6088 },
    { "base": "EUR", "quote": "ETB", "type": "sell", "value": 180.5024 },
    { "base": "GBP", "quote": "ETB", "type": "reference", "value": 214.8923 }
  ]
}

In Google Sheets, one formula puts today's US dollar rows in a sheet:

=QUERY(IMPORTDATA("https://allratestoday.com/api/open/central-bank/nbe?format=csv"),
       "select * where Col2 = 'USD'", 1)

The national-bank-of-ethiopia-exchange-rate npm package wraps the same table, and the NBE exchange rate API guide charts the birr since the float.

All Ethiopian bank exchange rates today

The API reads the exchange rate boards of 15 Ethiopian banks every hour: the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Development Bank of Ethiopia, and the private banks from Bank of Abyssinia and Dashen to Amhara and Tsehay. Each row is the bank's transaction (transfer) buying and selling rate in birr per one unit of foreign currency, returned next to the NBE rate so the gap is visible. These are the banks' retail prices, not official rates.

On 13 November 2026 every bank's USD buying rate sat within 0.8% of the NBE weighted average of 161.19 birr, while selling rates were about 1 to 2% above the NBE selling rate of 162.81. Which bank pays the most for a dollar changes from day to day, which is why one call that returns every board is useful.

# every Ethiopian bank's board in one call
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/et"

# one bank, one currency: Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, US dollar
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/et/cbeth?ccy=USD"

Commercial Bank of EthiopiaTransaction buying and selling, hourly Bank of AbyssiniaTransaction buying and selling, hourly Hibret BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Dashen BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Zemen BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Wegagen BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Cooperative Bank of OromiaTransaction buying and selling, hourly Nib International BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Enat BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Global Bank EthiopiaTransaction buying and selling, hourly Development Bank of EthiopiaTransaction buying and selling, hourly Berhan BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Abay BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Amhara BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly Tsehay BankTransaction buying and selling, hourly All Ethiopian banksSide-by-side with the NBE rate

Dated tables and history

Tax and customs rules need the rate for a specific date. A dated request returns the NBE table for that day, with rate_date showing the earlier table when the day was a weekend or a holiday, and a history request returns the daily series for a range. The NBE series in its current form starts in late September 2024. Bank boards are stored from 13 November 2026; add ?date=YYYY-MM-DD to get a bank's board for a past day, including the cash-note rates that the live board leaves out.

# the NBE table for an invoice date or a closing date
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/central-bank/nbe/2026-06-30" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

# a range of daily USD rates as CSV
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/central-bank/nbe/history?symbol=USD&from=2026-01-01&to=2026-06-30&format=csv" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

# a bank's stored board for a past day
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/et/dashen?ccy=USD&date=2026-11-13"

The NBE rate guide for accounting covers book closing, FX gains and losses and audit trails.

Live ETB market rates

For pricing and conversion the mid-market rate is refreshed every 60 seconds for ETB against 160+ currencies, in either direction. A free key covers it; add amount to get the converted figure in the same response. The central banks of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda are on the same key for regional work.

# Live mid-market USD/ETB, refreshed every 60 seconds (free key)
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=USD&target=ETB&amount=1000" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

The SDKs for JavaScript, Python, PHP, Go and Rust wrap the same call.

Ethiopian rules that name a rate

• NBE Foreign Exchange Directive FXD/01/2024, section 5: banks buy and sell foreign currency at freely negotiated rates and report the rates they used each day; the NBE's daily rate built from those reports "shall constitute the accounting exchange rate for that business day" but banks are not bound to trade at it. Effective 29 July 2024. Directive.
• Federal Income Tax Proclamation 979/2016, article 77: an amount in another currency "shall be translated to Birr at the National Bank of Ethiopia prevailing exchange rate" on the date it is taken into account; foreign exchange gains and losses count in the year they are realised.
• VAT Proclamation 1341/2024, article 71: imports of goods use the exchange rate applicable under the customs legislation; any other amount uses the NBE prevailing exchange rate on the date it is taken into account. A foreign supplier may instead elect the NBE rate on the last day of the accounting period.
• Customs Proclamation 859/2014, article 101 (as enacted; later amendments may change the wording): the customs value of imported or exported goods is calculated "on the basis of the official exchange rate declared by the National Bank of Ethiopia on the day the goods declaration has been registered."

These summaries describe the rules as written; confirm the treatment for your facts with your tax adviser.

Endpoints used on this page

Every table endpoint accepts &format=json|csv|xml|xlsx. The /api/open/ endpoints are CORS-open and can be called from a browser or a spreadsheet; the keyed ones are for servers. Full reference in the documentation.

Frequently asked questions

What is the NBE indicative exchange rate today?

The National Bank of Ethiopia’s official daily rate is a weighted average of the rates banks used in their foreign-exchange transactions on the previous business day, printed with a buying and a selling rate for 19 currencies. It usually appears around 10 am Addis Ababa time. The NBE page on this site shows today’s table, and the API returns it as JSON, CSV or Excel.

Do all Ethiopian banks use the same exchange rate?

No. Since the Foreign Exchange Directive FXD/01/2024 took effect on 29 July 2024, banks buy and sell foreign currency at freely negotiated rates, so each bank sets its own board every morning. On 13 November 2026 all 15 banks’ USD buying rates sat within 0.8% of the NBE weighted average of 161.19 birr, and their selling rates were about 1 to 2% above the NBE selling rate.

What is the CBE exchange rate today?

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia board is read every hour with its transaction buying and selling rates for about 18 currencies. The CBE page under bank exchange rates shows the current board next to the NBE rate, and the API returns it with /api/v1/bank-rates/et/cbeth.

Which rate do Ethiopian tax and customs rules use?

The income tax and VAT proclamations convert foreign-currency amounts at the National Bank of Ethiopia prevailing exchange rate on the date the amount is taken into account. Customs values use the official NBE exchange rate on the day the goods declaration is registered, and VAT on imports follows the customs rate.

How far back does the history go?

The NBE series in its current form starts in late September 2024, shortly after the float. Bank boards are stored from 13 November 2026, and each day’s board, including cash-note rates, can be requested by date.

Is there a free plan?

A free API key covers live rates and conversion, with no card. Dated tables and history need a paid plan, from €4.99 a month.

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