Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Unit C2: National accounts - production

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The presented data comprise exchange rates against the euro (from 1 January 1999), and against the ECU (up to 31 December 1998): average and end of the period rates.

Important notice:

The ECB has stopped the publication of a reference rate for the rouble until further notice, see https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/index.en.html: 

Owing to current trading activity in the EUR/RUB market, the European Central Bank (ECB) is not in a position to set a reference rate that is representative of prevailing market conditions. The ECB has therefore decided to suspend its publication of a euro reference rate for the Russian rouble until further notice. The ECB last published a EUR/RUB reference rate on 1 March 2022.

National Currency: EUR

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The ECU, a basket of EU currencies, was replaced by the euro at a rate of 1 : 1 on 1 January 1999. From that date, the currencies of the euro-area became sub-divisions of the euro at irrevocably fixed rates of conversion.

Please see in section Related metadata, the metadata on conversion factors which enable euro fixed series to be converted into euro/ECU series, and vice-versa.

Prior to 1979 the exchange rates refer to the European Unit of Account (EUA) and not the ECU. However, the ECU's value and composition when it was introduced, was identical to that of the EUA. The EUA officially came into existence on 28th June 1974, when it was equal to 1 SDR (Special Drawing Right).

The euro exchange rate series are reference rates published by the ECB and the Bundesbank. The exchange rates for Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia are provided by the respective national central bank. The exchange rate of Bosnia and Herzegovina is fixed against the euro. Montenegro and Kosovo, not shown in the table, both use the euro as their currency.

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Non euro-area European Union member states, EFTA countries, EU enlargement countries, other countries.

Exchange rates against the Euro/ECU: Daily rates are available for the ECU from 1 July 1974 to 31 December 1998 and EUR from 4 January 1999, against a large number of currencies. However, monthly average series starts in January 1971: from that date until June 1974 these are theoretical EUA rates based on the EUA basket.

Not applicable.

Units of ECU/euro and national currency

Generally, the period average data are the average of the business day rates. The period end rate is the daily rate of the last business day of the period. However, the daily series for Iceland until end-2008 include weekends. The period averages for the North Macedonian denar differ from those published by the national central bank, as the latter include weekends and public holidays.

From January 1971 until June 1974 the monthly average series are theoretical rates based on the EUA currency basket. The rates vary according to changes in the market value of the component currencies. The annual averages for 1971-1974 are an average of the 12 monthly rates.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1478/2000 of 19 June 2000 amending Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euro.

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Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

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The ECB applies the following rules for the euro reference rates:

• The reference rates are usually updated around 16:00 CET on every working day, except on TARGET closing days. They are based on a regular daily concertation procedure between central banks across Europe, which normally takes place at 14:15 CET. They are then published on the ECBs website.
• Only one reference exchange rate (i.e. the mid-rate) is published for each currency, using the “certain” method (i.e. 1 euro = x foreign currency units).

There are available release calendars in national central banks and in the Bundesbank websites.

The euro area national central banks may publish more comprehensive lists of euro reference exchange rates than that published by the ECB.

Please see:

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/index.en.html

https://www.bundesbank.de/action/en/820914/bbksearch?query=&tfi-820916=805658&hitsPerPageString=20 

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat’s website (see item 10 – Accessibility and clarity) respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Daily, monthly, quarterly and annually.

None.

Eurostatistics- Data for short-term economic analysis — 03/2020

Please consult free data on-line at: 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

https://www.bundesbank.de/en/statistics/exchange-rates

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None.

For documentation on methodology please consult: 

Framework for the euro foreign exchange reference rates

Explanatory notes on the Bundesbank’s in-house exchange rates

See the Bundesbank Quality report on exchange rate statistics

Not available

Please see :

Framework for the euro foreign exchange reference rates

The Bundesbank Quality report on exchange rate statistics

An analysis of the web traffic shows that exchange rate pages are mainly visited and that bilateral euro exchange rates data are largely extracted.

Internal users commonly use the statistics as input for analysis and calculation of European and EU aggregates according to the 2020 user survey conducted by unit C2.

The quality of information provided and data availability have been overall judged satisfactory by users according to the 2020 user survey conducted by unit C2.

Daily data start in 2001. Data cover only periods with convertible currencies.

Exchange rates are not revised.

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The exchange rates provided by the ECB are updated every business day and generally published within 2 days (t+2). For Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia the exchange rates are available within a week from the end of the month.

Data are generally transmitted in due time.

Full comparability for most currencies

Full comparability for most of the time series

Full comparability for all Eurostat domains as they use identical data sources.

Not applicable

Only the European Central Bank, the Bundesbank and the national central banks are involved in the data collection. There are no other reporting agents.

Revisions do not take place. Discovered errors are extremely rare and would be corrected immediately.

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Data are taken from the European system of central banks or other natonal central banks. Until 31 December 1998 these exchange rates refer to the ECU and the source was the European Commission.

Daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly.

For all other countries, data are directly downloaded from the Bundesbank database.

* Source data: ECB until 2019, Bundesbank from 2020

The European Central Bank, the Bundesbank and the national central banks perform all necessary checks.

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In order to derive a continuous time series in a former national currency from the relevant series in ECU/euro, the data in euro should be converted at the fixed conversion rate for the period after the adoption of the euro.