readecb: Access 'European Central Bank' Data

Description

Provides clean, tidy access to statistical data published by the 'European Central Bank' ('ECB') via the 'ECB Data Portal' API https://data.ecb.europa.eu. Covers policy interest rates, 'EURIBOR', euro exchange rates, harmonised consumer price inflation ('HICP'), euro area yield curves, the euro short-term rate ('ESTR'), monetary aggregates (M1, M2, M3), mortgage and lending rates, GDP, unemployment, and government debt-to-GDP. Each dataset has a dedicated function that abstracts away the underlying 'SDMX' key structure, so users do not need to know series codes. A generic fetcher is also provided for direct access to any of the 'ECB' 100-plus dataflows. Data is downloaded on first use and cached locally for subsequent calls.

Author(s)

Maintainer: Charles Coverdale charlesfcoverdale@gmail.com

See Also

Useful links:

• https://github.com/charlescoverdale/readecb

• Report bugs at https://github.com/charlescoverdale/readecb/issues

Clear the readecb cache

Description

Deletes all locally cached ECB data files. The next call to any data function will re-download from the ECB Data Portal.

Usage

clear_cache()

Value

Invisible NULL.

See Also

Other data access: ecb_get(), ecb_yield_curve(), list_ecb_dataflows()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
clear_cache()
options(op)

Euro short-term rate (ESTR)

Description

Returns the euro short-term rate, the ECB's benchmark overnight interest rate that replaced EONIA.

Usage

ecb_estr(from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

value

Numeric. Rate in percent.

See Also

Other interest rates: ecb_euribor(), ecb_policy_rates()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_estr(from = "2024-01")
options(op)

EURIBOR interbank lending rates

Description

Returns EURIBOR (Euro Interbank Offered Rate) at one or more tenors. EURIBOR is the benchmark rate at which euro area banks lend to each other, widely used as a reference rate for mortgages, loans, and derivatives.

Usage

ecb_euribor(tenor = "3M", from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

tenor

Character. EURIBOR maturity.

value

Numeric. Rate in percent per annum.

See Also

Other interest rates: ecb_estr(), ecb_policy_rates()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_euribor("3M", from = "2022-01")
ecb_euribor(c("1M", "3M", "6M", "12M"), from = "2024-01")
options(op)

Euro exchange rates

Description

Returns ECB reference exchange rates for one or more currencies against the euro.

Usage

ecb_exchange_rate(
  currency = "USD",
  frequency = c("monthly", "daily"),
  from = NULL,
  to = NULL,
  cache = TRUE
)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

currency

Character. ISO currency code.

value

Numeric. Units of foreign currency per euro.

See Also

Other exchange rates: list_exchange_rates()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_exchange_rate("USD", from = "2024-01")
ecb_exchange_rate(c("USD", "GBP", "JPY"), from = "2024-01")
options(op)

Euro area GDP

Description

Returns quarterly real GDP for the euro area from the ECB's national accounts dataset (MNA).

Usage

ecb_gdp(from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date. First day of the quarter.

value

Numeric. GDP in millions of euros (chain-linked volumes).

See Also

Other macro: ecb_government_debt(), ecb_unemployment()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_gdp(from = "2020")
options(op)

Fetch any ECB dataflow

Description

A generic fetcher for direct access to any of the ECB's dataflows. Use list_ecb_dataflows() to discover available dataflows.

Usage

ecb_get(dataflow, key, from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame. Columns vary by dataflow but always include TIME_PERIOD and OBS_VALUE.

See Also

Other data access: clear_cache(), ecb_yield_curve(), list_ecb_dataflows()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
# Fetch EUR/USD monthly exchange rate
ecb_get("EXR", "M.USD.EUR.SP00.A", from = "2024-01")
options(op)

Euro area government debt-to-GDP ratio

Description

Returns the annual general government consolidated gross debt as a percentage of GDP for the euro area, from the ECB's government finance statistics dataset (GFS).

Usage

ecb_government_debt(from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date. 1 January of each year.

value

Numeric. Government debt as a percentage of GDP.

See Also

Other macro: ecb_gdp(), ecb_unemployment()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_government_debt(from = "2000")
options(op)

Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP)

Description

Returns HICP inflation data for one or more euro area countries or country groups. The default is the euro area aggregate ("U2").

Usage

ecb_hicp(
  country = "U2",
  measure = c("annual_rate", "index", "monthly_rate"),
  from = NULL,
  to = NULL,
  cache = TRUE
)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

country

Character. Country or area code.

value

Numeric. Inflation rate or index level.

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_hicp(from = "2020-01")
ecb_hicp(c("DE", "FR", "IT"), from = "2023-01")
options(op)

Lending interest rates to non-financial corporations

Description

Returns the composite cost-of-borrowing indicator for loans to non-financial corporations in the euro area or a specific country.

Usage

ecb_lending_rates(country = "U2", from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

country

Character. Country or area code.

value

Numeric. Interest rate in percent per annum.

See Also

Other credit: ecb_money_supply(), ecb_mortgage_rates()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_lending_rates(from = "2015-01")
options(op)

Euro area monetary aggregates

Description

Returns outstanding amounts for M1, M2, or M3 monetary aggregates in the euro area.

Usage

ecb_money_supply(
  aggregate = c("M3", "M2", "M1"),
  from = NULL,
  to = NULL,
  cache = TRUE
)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

value

Numeric. Outstanding amount in millions of euros.

See Also

Other credit: ecb_lending_rates(), ecb_mortgage_rates()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_money_supply("M3", from = "2020-01")
options(op)

Mortgage interest rates

Description

Returns the composite cost-of-borrowing indicator for house purchase loans in the euro area or a specific country.

Usage

ecb_mortgage_rates(country = "U2", from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

country

Character. Country or area code.

value

Numeric. Interest rate in percent per annum.

See Also

Other credit: ecb_lending_rates(), ecb_money_supply()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_mortgage_rates(from = "2015-01")
options(op)

ECB policy interest rates

Description

Returns the three main ECB policy rates: the main refinancing operations rate, the deposit facility rate, and the marginal lending facility rate.

Usage

ecb_policy_rates(from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

rate

Character. One of "Main refinancing rate", "Deposit facility rate", or "Marginal lending rate".

value

Numeric. Rate in percent per annum.

See Also

Other interest rates: ecb_estr(), ecb_euribor()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_policy_rates(from = "2022-01")
options(op)

Euro area unemployment rate

Description

Returns the monthly harmonised unemployment rate for the euro area from the ECB's labour force statistics dataset (LFSI).

Usage

ecb_unemployment(from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

value

Numeric. Unemployment rate as a percentage.

See Also

Other macro: ecb_gdp(), ecb_government_debt()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_unemployment(from = "2020-01")
options(op)

Euro area government bond yield curve

Description

Returns AAA-rated euro area government bond yields for one or more tenors.

Usage

ecb_yield_curve(tenor = "10Y", from = NULL, to = NULL, cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

date

Date.

tenor

Character. Bond maturity.

value

Numeric. Yield in percent per annum.

See Also

Other data access: clear_cache(), ecb_get(), list_ecb_dataflows()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
ecb_yield_curve("10Y", from = "2023-01")
ecb_yield_curve(c("2Y", "10Y"), from = "2022-01")
options(op)

List available ECB dataflows

Description

Fetches the full list of dataflows from the ECB Data Portal. Each dataflow corresponds to a dataset that can be queried with ecb_get().

Usage

list_ecb_dataflows(cache = TRUE)

Arguments

Value

A data frame with columns:

dataflow_id

Character. The dataflow identifier.

name

Character. Human-readable name.

See Also

Other data access: clear_cache(), ecb_get(), ecb_yield_curve()

Examples

op <- options(readecb.cache_dir = tempdir())
list_ecb_dataflows()
options(op)

List available exchange rate currencies

Description

Returns a data frame of ISO 4217 currency codes for which the ECB publishes reference exchange rates. No network call is made.

Usage

list_exchange_rates()

Value

A data frame with columns:

code

Character. ISO 4217 currency code.

currency

Character. Currency name.

See Also

Other exchange rates: ecb_exchange_rate()

Examples

list_exchange_rates()