Selic target rate and history

Selic target rate

A policy rate is an interest rate a central bank sets to steer short-term rates. The Selic target is a point rate: it has a single target value. Its instrument identifier is selic_target, its currency is BRL, and its value is expressed in percent per annum.

Recent rate changes

Brazil's records use observed_on, the date the source recorded the value. The effective_on field means the date a rate took effect and is absent from these records. The source has a row for every calendar day, so consecutive rows can repeat a value. The change table is derived from those rows and shows only days when the value changed. Dates not yet in force are excluded.

Get the selic target rate from the API

1. Request the latest rate Public access is available on every plan including Free, with live data. Use uppercase BRA in the path. Without a date, the request selects the latest source observation at or before today UTC. Each request consumes one metered unit.
   Latest observation

   Copy

   curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NARWHAL_API_KEY" \
     "https://api.narwhalapi.com/v1/economics/BRA/central-bank/policy-rate"

2. Request a past date Add date to select the latest source observation at or before a chosen date. This is a lookup against published observations; missing source days are left missing. The response date identifies the selected observation, which can precede the date in your request.
   Observation at or before a date

   Copy

   curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NARWHAL_API_KEY" \
     "https://api.narwhalapi.com/v1/economics/BRA/central-bank/policy-rate?date=1999-03-05"

3. Request historical observations Use the history route with start. Observations arrive oldest first. The default limit is 100, and accepted limits run from 1 to 1000. Pass each next_cursor as cursor on the next request until it is null. A cursor pins publications for 24 hours.
   History from the coverage start

   Copy

   curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NARWHAL_API_KEY" \
     "https://api.narwhalapi.com/v1/economics/BRA/central-bank/policy-rate/history?start=1999-03-05&limit=100"

{
  "country": "BRA",
  "authority": "banco_central_do_brasil",
  "currency": "BRL",
  "instrument": "selic_target",
  "rate_type": "point",
  "rate": "2.50",
  "qualifier": "exact",
  "unit": "percent",
  "observed_on": "1999-03-05"
}

History coverage

Banco Central do Brasil publishes the source series, SGS 432. Narwhal's Brazil coverage is limited to this policy rate. Historical responses preserve daily observations, including repeated values, while the derived change table selects changes. Rate values are decimal strings in percent per annum.

How do I get Selic rate history?

After public access opens, request the history route with your chosen start and optional end, then follow pagination. For a list of rate changes, compare consecutive observations and retain the rows where the rate differs from the preceding value. Daily rows describe the recorded value for each day; their frequency does not mean the Copom changes the target daily.

Source

Source: Banco Central do Brasil (SGS 432), Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL).