bccr-exchange-rates

Python library for scraping Costa Rican exchange rates from Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR).

Get real-time and historical exchange rate data from 39+ financial entities including banks, exchange houses, financial companies, cooperatives, and more.

Features

• 🔄 Real-time Data: Get current exchange rates from all reporting entities
• 📅 Historical Data: Query rates for any past date
• 🔍 Search & Filter: Find specific entities by name or type
• 🏦 Comprehensive Coverage: 39+ entities across 7 categories
• 🚀 Simple API: Easy-to-use functions with sensible defaults
• ⚡ No Authentication: Direct HTML scraping, no API credentials needed
• 🐍 Type-Safe: Full type hints for better IDE support

Installation

pip install bccr-exchange-rates

Quick Start

from bccr_exchange_rates import get_current_rates, search_entities

# Get current rates from all entities
rates = get_current_rates()
for entity in rates:
    print(f"{entity['entity_name']}: ₡{entity['buy_rate']} / ₡{entity['sell_rate']}")

# Search for a specific entity
multimoney = search_entities("MultiMoney")
if multimoney:
    rate = multimoney[0]
    print(f"MultiMoney - Buy: ₡{rate['buy_rate']}, Sell: ₡{rate['sell_rate']}")

Usage Examples

Get Current Rates

from bccr_exchange_rates import get_current_rates

# Get all current rates as a flat list
rates = get_current_rates()
print(f"Found {len(rates)} entities with rates")

# Get rates grouped by entity type
rates_by_type = get_current_rates(format="hierarchical")
for entity_type, entities in rates_by_type.items():
    print(f"\n{entity_type}:")
    for entity in entities:
        print(f"  - {entity['entity_name']}: Buy ₡{entity['buy_rate']}, Sell ₡{entity['sell_rate']}")

Get Historical Rates

from bccr_exchange_rates import get_rates_by_date

# Get rates for a specific date
rates = get_rates_by_date("2025-11-01")
print(f"Rates for November 1, 2025: {len(rates)} entities")

# Get historical rates grouped by type
rates_by_type = get_rates_by_date("2025-10-15", format="hierarchical")

Search for Entities

from bccr_exchange_rates import search_entities, get_entity_by_name

# Search for all banks
banks = search_entities("Banco")
print(f"Found {len(banks)} banks")

# Search for financial companies
financieras = search_entities("Financiera")

# Get a specific entity by name
ari = get_entity_by_name("ARI")
if ari:
    print(f"ARI Exchange Rates:")
    print(f"  Buy:  ₡{ari['buy_rate']}")
    print(f"  Sell: ₡{ari['sell_rate']}")
    print(f"  Spread: ₡{ari['spread']}")

# Search with historical date
multimoney_oct = search_entities("MultiMoney", date="2025-10-15")

Entity Data Structure

Each entity dictionary contains:

{
    'entity_type': 'Financieras',           # Category name
    'entity_name': 'MultiMoney',            # Official entity name
    'buy_rate': 502.50,                     # Buy rate (Compra) in colones
    'sell_rate': 515.30,                    # Sell rate (Venta) in colones
    'spread': 12.80,                        # Differential (Diferencial Cambiario)
    'last_update': '2025-11-05T10:00:00',   # Last update timestamp (ISO format)
    'last_update_str': '05/11/2025 10:00 a.m.'  # Original timestamp string
}

Advanced Usage

from bccr_exchange_rates import scrape_ventanilla_page, group_entities_by_type

# Direct access to scraper for full metadata
result = scrape_ventanilla_page()
print(f"Date: {result['date']}")
print(f"Entities: {len(result['entities'])}")
print(f"Metadata: {result['metadata']}")

# Group entities manually
entities = result['entities']
grouped = group_entities_by_type(entities)
for entity_type, type_entities in grouped.items():
    avg_buy = sum(e['buy_rate'] for e in type_entities if e['buy_rate']) / len([e for e in type_entities if e['buy_rate']])
    print(f"{entity_type}: Average buy rate = ₡{avg_buy:.2f}")

Entity Coverage

The library covers 7 entity categories with 39+ total entities:

Category	Count	Examples
Bancos públicos (Public banks)	4	Banco de Costa Rica, Banco Nacional
Bancos privados (Private banks)	13	BAC San José, Scotiabank, Cathay
Financieras (Finance companies)	8	MultiMoney, Desyfin, Acorde
Casas de cambio (Exchange houses)	6	ARI, Global Exchange, Inter Cambios
Cooperativas (Cooperatives)	12	Coopealianza, Coopeservidores
Mutuales (Mutual funds)	2	Mutual Cartago, Mutual Alajuela
Puestos de Bolsa (Stock brokers)	11	BCR Valores, Improsa

Error Handling

The library provides specific exceptions for different error scenarios:

from bccr_exchange_rates import (
    get_current_rates,
    BCCRError,
    BCCRScrapingError,
    BCCRConnectionError,
    BCCRDateError
)

try:
    rates = get_current_rates()
except BCCRConnectionError as e:
    print(f"Connection failed: {e}")
except BCCRScrapingError as e:
    print(f"Scraping error: {e}")
except BCCRDateError as e:
    print(f"Date validation error: {e}")
except BCCRError as e:
    print(f"General BCCR error: {e}")

Requirements

• Python 3.11 or higher
• requests >= 2.31.0
• beautifulsoup4 >= 4.12.0
• python-dateutil >= 2.8.0

How It Works

This library scrapes the official BCCR ventanilla page: https://gee.bccr.fi.cr/indicadoreseconomicos/Cuadros/frmConsultaTCVentanilla.aspx

Scraping Method:

• Current data: Direct HTTP GET request + BeautifulSoup parsing
• Historical data: Multi-step ASP.NET WebForms interaction with calendar controls

The library handles the complex ASP.NET ViewState management and calendar navigation automatically.

Use Cases

• Financial Applications: Integrate live exchange rates into fintech apps
• Price Comparison: Build tools to find the best exchange rates
• Currency Converters: Create conversion tools with real market data
• Data Analysis: Analyze historical exchange rate trends
• Automated Monitoring: Track rate changes and send alerts
• Business Intelligence: Visualize currency market movements

Limitations

• No Real-time Updates: Data is scraped on-demand, not pushed
• Rate Limits: Be respectful with requests to avoid overloading BCCR servers
• Historical Data: Requires Selenium for dates requiring calendar navigation

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/jloria13/bccr-exchange-rates.git
cd bccr-exchange-rates

# Install in development mode
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to:

• Report bugs or issues
• Suggest new features
• Submit pull requests
• Improve documentation

Acknowledgments

This library was inspired by bccr-indicadores-economicos by Andrés Monge, which provided valuable insights into working with BCCR's economic indicators system.

Related Projects

• bccr-exchange-api: FastAPI wrapper providing REST API endpoints for this library

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2025 Mauricio Loría

Disclaimer

This is an unofficial library and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR).

Important:

• Use this library at your own discretion
• Always verify critical financial data with official sources
• Be respectful with request frequency to avoid overloading BCCR servers
• Exchange rates are for informational purposes only

Support

• 📖 Documentation: This README and inline code documentation
• 🐛 Issues: GitHub Issues
• 💬 Discussions: GitHub Discussions

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Made with ❤️ in Costa Rica 🇨🇷