The BIS central bank policy rates data set tracks the evolution of policy rates across the world. The policy rate is an important instrument used by central banks to implement their monetary policy.
The central bank policy rates data set features long time series for more than 40 advanced and emerging market economies, on a daily and monthly frequency.
This data set is unique in three respects. First, the BIS has closely collaborated with national central banks in the selection of the policy rate(s). Depending on the country, the policy rate may correspond to the target, repo or discounting rate. For periods when monetary policy was not conducted with an interest rate instrument, eg under monetary base targeting, the most widely referenced money market or central bank interest rate is taken.
Second, the data set also contains historical data to construct long, spliced series. Most daily series start after 1980, with data going back to 1946 for several economies. From January 2024, the BIS disseminates historical policy rates for selected euro area countries. Third, the series are published along extensive metadata, which detail, for example, the underlying series spliced into the main policy rate or the time lag between the announcement of the policy rate change and the day it becomes effective.
For the methodological choices underpinning the construction of the long, spliced series on central bank policy rates, see "Recent enhancements to the BIS statistics", BIS Quarterly Review, September 2017.
