hmrc-exchange-rates

README

hmrc-exchange-rates

HMRC publishes monthly exchange rates in XML format [Source]. Unfortunately, the format in which those exchange rates are published is rather unwieldy.

hmrc-exchange-rates downloads exchange rates from HMRC and produces a single, easy-to-use CSV file, containing monthly exchange rates for all major currencies between February 2021 and the most recent month for which HMRC has published rates.

How is this different from the CSV files published by HMRC?

HMRC publishes one CSV file per month, containing exchange rates against all major currencies [Example]. If you need to look up monthly exchange rates over three years, you'd need to download and normalize 12 * 3 = 36 CSV files. This is annoying.

This script produces a single CSV containing monthly exchange rates against all major currencies, starting February 2021.

The resulting CSV looks something like this:

period_start,period_end,country_name,country_code,currency_name,currency_code,rate_new
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Argentina,AR,Peso ,ARS,13.02
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Australia,AU,Dollar ,AUD,1.8385
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Austria,AT,Euro ,EUR,1.3008
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Belgium,BE,Euro ,EUR,1.3008
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Brazil,BR,Real ,BRL,3.9326
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Canada,CA,Dollar,CAD,1.8251
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Cyprus,CY,Euro ,EUR,1.3008
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Denmark,DK,Krone ,DKK,9.664
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Estonia,EE,Euro,EUR,1.3008
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Finland,FI,Euro ,EUR,1.3008
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,France,FR,Euro ,EUR,1.3008
2015-02-01,2015-02-28,Germany,DE,Euro ,EUR,1.3008
[...]
2023-05-01,2023-05-31,Vanuatu,VU,Vatu ,VUV,148.3112
2023-05-01,2023-05-31,Venezuela,VE,Bolivar Fuerte ,VEF,319866.39
2023-05-01,2023-05-31,Vietnam,VN,Dong ,VND,29259.5291
2023-05-01,2023-05-31,Wallis & Futuna Islands,WF,CFP Franc ,XPF,135.5738
2023-05-01,2023-05-31,Western Samoa,WS,Tala ,WST,3.3924
2023-05-01,2023-05-31,Yemen (Rep of),YE,Rial ,YER,311.4628
2023-05-01,2023-05-31,Zambia,ZM,Kwacha ,ZMW,21.5483
2023-05-01,2023-05-31,Zimbabwe,ZW,Dollar ,ZWL,450.5671

Usage

Run make all, which will

1. build the binary,
2. download monthly exchange rates between February 2021 and the most recent month for which HMRC has published rates,
3. generate hmrc_exchange_rates.csv, hmrc_exchange_rates_usd.csv, and hmrc_exchange_rates_eur.csv.

alexandergugel@192 hmrc-exchange-rates % make clean && make
rm -f hmrc-exchange-rates hmrc_exchange_rates.csv hmrc_exchange_rates_usd.csv hmrc_exchange_rates_eur.csv
go build
./hmrc-exchange-rates > hmrc_exchange_rates.csv
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-2.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-3.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-4.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-5.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-6.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-7.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-8.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-9.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-10.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-11.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2021-12.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-1.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-2.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-3.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-4.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-5.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-6.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-7.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-8.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-9.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-10.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-11.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2022-12.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-1.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-2.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-3.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-4.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-5.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-6.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-7.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:25 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-8.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:26 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-9.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:26 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-10.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:26 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-11.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:26 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2023-12.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:26 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2024-1.xml...
2024/02/04 20:40:26 fetching https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/exchange_rates/files/monthly_xml_2024-2.xml...
awk -F ',' "NR == 1 || \$6 == \"USD\" {print}" hmrc_exchange_rates.csv > hmrc_exchange_rates_usd.csv
awk -F ',' "NR == 1 || \$6 == \"EUR\" {print}" hmrc_exchange_rates.csv > hmrc_exchange_rates_eur.csv
alexandergugel@192 hmrc-exchange-rates %

• hmrc_exchange_rates.csv contains monthly exchange rates for all major currencies.
• hmrc_exchange_rates_{usd,eur}.csv are filtered versions of hmrc_exchange_rates.csv, only containing USD / EUR exchange rates respectively.

The program requires a somewhat recent version of Go. I've tested things with go1.19.2, but older versions should work as well.

License

This program is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more information.