tidyBdE

tidyBdE is an API package that retrieves data from Banco de España. The data is returned as a tibble, and the package automatically detects the format of each time-series (dates, characters, and numbers).

Installation

Install tidyBdE from CRAN:

install.packages("tidyBdE")

You can install the development version of tidyBdE with:

remotes::install_github("ropenspain/tidyBdE")

Alternatively, you can install the development version of tidyBdE using the r-universe:

# Install tidyBdE in R:
install.packages("tidyBdE", repos = c(
  "https://ropenspain.r-universe.dev",
  "https://cloud.r-project.org"
))

Examples

Banco de España (BdE) provides several time-series, either produced by the institution itself or compiled from other sources, such as Eurostat or INE.

The basic entry point for searching time-series is the catalogs (indexes) of information. You can search any series by name:

library(tidyBdE)

# Load tidyverse for better handling
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)
library(tidyr)


# Search GBP on "TC" (exchange rate) catalog
xr_gbp <- bde_catalog_search("GBP", catalog = "TC")

xr_gbp |>
  select(Numero_secuencial, Descripcion_de_la_serie) |>
  # To table on document
  knitr::kable()

Note that BdE files are currently only provided in Spanish. The institution is working on the English version. For now, search terms must be provided in Spanish to retrieve results.

After we have found our series, we can load the series for the GBP/EUR exchange rate using the sequential number reference (Numero_Secuencial) as:

seq_number <- xr_gbp |>
  # First record
  slice(1) |>
  # Get id
  select(Numero_secuencial) |>
  # Convert to num
  as.double()

# Extract series
time_series <- bde_series_load(seq_number, series_label = "EUR_GBP_XR") |>
  filter(Date >= "2010-01-01" & Date <= "2020-12-31") |>
  drop_na()

Plots

The package also provides a custom ggplot2 theme based on BdE publications:

ggplot(time_series, aes(x = Date, y = EUR_GBP_XR)) +
  geom_line(colour = bde_tidy_palettes(n = 1)) +
  geom_smooth(method = "gam", colour = bde_tidy_palettes(n = 2)[2]) +
  labs(
    title = "EUR/GBP Exchange Rate (2010-2020)",
    subtitle = "%",
    caption = "Source: BdE"
  ) +
  geom_vline(
    xintercept = as.Date("2016-06-23"),
    linetype = "dotted"
  ) +
  geom_label(aes(
    x = as.Date("2016-06-23"),
    y = .95,
    label = "Brexit"
  )) +
  coord_cartesian(ylim = c(0.7, 1)) +
  theme_tidybde()

The package also provides several “shortcut” functions for a selection of relevant macroeconomic series, so there is no need to search for them in advance:

# Data in "long" format

plotseries <- bde_ind_gdp_var("GDP YoY", out_format = "long") |>
  bind_rows(
    bde_ind_unemployment_rate("Unemployment Rate", out_format = "long")
  ) |>
  drop_na() |>
  filter(Date >= "2010-01-01" & Date <= "2019-12-31")

ggplot(plotseries, aes(x = Date, y = serie_value)) +
  geom_line(aes(color = serie_name), linewidth = 1) +
  labs(
    title = "Spanish Economic Indicators (2010-2019)",
    subtitle = "%",
    caption = "Source: BdE"
  ) +
  theme_tidybde() +
  scale_color_bde_d(palette = "bde_vivid_pal") # Custom palette on the package

Palettes

Two custom palettes, based on those used by BdE in some publications, are available.

These palettes can be applied to ggplot2 plots using custom utilities included in the package (see help("scale_color_bde_d", package = "tidyBdE")).

A note on caching

You can use tidyBdE to create your own local repository in a given local directory by passing the following option:

options(bde_cache_dir = "./path/to/location")

When this option is set, tidyBdE looks for the cached file in the bde_cache_dir directory and loads it, speeding up the process.

It is possible to update the data (i.e. after every monthly or quarterly data release) with the following commands:

bde_catalog_update()

# On most of the functions using the option update_cache = TRUE

bde_series_load("SOME ID", update_cache = TRUE)

Disclaimer

This package is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Banco de España.

Citation

H. Herrero D (2026). tidyBdE: Download Data from Bank of Spain. doi:10.32614/CRAN.package.tidyBdE, https://ropenspain.github.io/tidyBdE/.

A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is

@Manual{R-tidyBdE,
  title = {{tidyBdE}: Download Data from Bank of Spain},
  doi = {10.32614/CRAN.package.tidyBdE},
  author = {Diego {H. Herrero}},
  year = {2026},
  version = {0.5.0},
  url = {https://ropenspain.github.io/tidyBdE/},
  abstract = {Tools to download data series from Banco de España (BdE) on tibble format. Banco de España is the national central bank and, within the framework of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), the supervisor of the Spanish banking system along with the European Central Bank. This package is in no way sponsored endorsed or administered by Banco de España.},
}