FXMacroData vs INEI and BCRPData: Peruvian Macro Data for PEN Traders

This guide is for FX traders, quant developers, and analysts who follow the Peruvian sol and need to decide where their Peru macro data should come from: straight from the official publishers, INEI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática) and the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP), or through FXMacroData. INEI publishes Lima Metropolitan consumer prices, national production, and labour statistics. The BCRP runs BCRPData, a statistics database with a free, keyless API that returns series by code in JSON, CSV, XML, and other formats.

The core finding: for Peru-only research, deep history, and the full statistical detail, INEI and BCRPData are the authoritative and free answer, and nothing should replace them as the source of record. For USD/PEN trading workflows that also span USD, EUR, BRL, and the other currencies driving the pair, FXMacroData reads the same official Peruvian releases and adds one schema across 22 currencies, second-level announcement timestamps, pair dashboards, and AI/MCP access, so the data is ready for scripts, alerts, and backtests without per-agency adapters.

Decision snapshot

Choose INEI and BCRPData when

You need Peru's official figures with full detail, long history, a large catalogue of BCRP series codes, Spanish and English labels, and free reuse with source citation.

Choose FXMacroData when

You trade or model the sol against other currencies and want Peru CPI, policy rate, GDP, and labour data in the same REST/MCP schema as USD and 20 other currencies.

Quick answer

INEI and BCRPData are free and authoritative. FXMacroData is the paid workflow layer ($50/month Individual) built on those same sources for multi-currency FX automation.

Takeaway: use the official sources to verify and research Peru in depth; use FXMacroData when Peru is one input into a multi-currency trading process.

Pricing and access

This is not a like-for-like commercial comparison. BCRPData's API is a public service: the official API guide states that no login is needed to query series, only correctly formed parameters and an internet connection. INEI publishes its price indices as downloadable Excel workbooks and technical bulletins on its website at no cost. Neither publisher lists a paid API plan.*

FXMacroData publishes self-serve pricing. The Always Free tier needs no key and covers USD data only (100 requests/day, USD announcements delayed 15 minutes), so Peru data sits on a paid plan. Individual is $50/month or $500/year with a 14-day trial, 1,000,000 requests/month, bursts of 300/minute and 5,000/hour, and 20 concurrent requests. Business is $250/month or $2,500/year for companies and teams of up to 10 people with the same monthly allowance and priority support. Enterprise is by custom agreement, and a self-serve Commercial Redistribution add-on costs $10/month per block of up to 100 measured users (or 1,000 public-feed followers).

BCRPData API

Free, no key*

GET or POST by series code; HTML, JSON, JSONP, CSV, TXT, XML, and XLS output; up to ten same-frequency series per call.

INEI downloads

Free*

Lima Metropolitan and national CPI workbooks with monthly, year-to-date, and annual changes, plus PDF bulletins. No API listed on the price-index page.

FXMacroData

$50/month

Individual plan with 14-day trial: PEN plus 21 other currencies, one JSON schema, timestamps, dashboards, exports, and MCP.

Takeaway: the official route costs nothing in fees; FXMacroData's price buys the normalisation, timing, and multi-currency packaging you would otherwise build and maintain yourself.

Side-by-side comparison

* Competitor pricing and terms retrieved from the BCRPData API guide, BCRPData conditions of use, and the INEI price-index page in October 2026.

What the official data shows: Lima CPI from BCRPData

To show what the official route delivers, the chart below plots the last 12 monthly observations of Lima Metropolitan consumer price inflation (12-month change) pulled directly from the BCRPData API, series PN01273PM. The figures are compiled by the BCRP from INEI's index. Over this window, annual Peru CPI inflation rose from about 1.4% to 4.4%, moving above the BCRP's 1% to 3% target range from March 2026.

Lima Metropolitan CPI, % change over 12 months

Monthly, September 2025 to August 2026

Takeaway: annual Lima inflation roughly tripled in twelve months, which is exactly the kind of shift a USD/PEN model needs to see in the same schema as US inflation rather than in a separate spreadsheet.

The same API returns the monetary policy reference rate as monthly series PD04722MM (and daily as PD12301MD). It shows the easing cycle clearly: 7.75% through August 2023, a run of cuts to 4.25% by September 2025, and 4.25% held through September 2026. For what that rate path means for the sol, see the Central Reserve Bank of Peru guide; this article stays on the data-sourcing question.

What INEI and BCRPData do well

BCRPData is one of the more developer-friendly central-bank databases in Latin America. Its API guide documents a single URL pattern: series codes, output format, start period, end period, and language (esp or ing). Only the series code is required; omit the dates and you get the most recent data. A request can combine up to ten codes of the same frequency, and output formats include JSON, JSONP, CSV, TXT, XML, XLS, and an HTML table. There is no key, no registration, and no published quota.

INEI is the producer of the headline price statistics. Its price-index page offers the Lima Metropolitan CPI on a December 2021 base (plus the older 2009 base) and the national CPI, each with monthly, year-to-date, and annual changes in Excel. INEI also publishes the monthly CPI resolution in the official gazette El Peruano, which is the legal record of the index. For September 2026, the resolution gave the Lima index at 120.86 (December 2021 = 100).

Official-source strength map

Authority

INEI produces the CPI; the BCRP sets the reference rate. There is no higher source to cite.

Breadth inside Peru

Interest rates, exchange rates, credit, external-sector data, and expectations surveys sit alongside the headline series.

Zero cost, low friction

Keyless GET requests, bilingual labels, and an Excel add-in for spreadsheet users.

Open reuse terms

BCRP content can be reproduced in full or in part with the source cited.

Takeaway: if the question is "what exactly did Peru publish, and what is the full history?", the official sources are the right first stop.

Where FXMacroData adds the workflow layer

FXMacroData does not replace INEI or the BCRP; it reads the same official releases and adds the parts an FX workflow needs. The gaps show up as soon as Peru is one leg of a trade. BCRPData returns values as strings keyed by Spanish or English period labels (Ago.2026 or Aug.2026), not ISO dates. Its CSV output is printed for the browser with HTML line breaks rather than plain newlines, so it needs cleaning before a parser will accept it. Series codes are BCRP-specific, so a model that also reads US CPI, Brazilian rates, and euro-area data needs a separate adapter for each publisher.

From an INEI release to a USD/PEN decision

1. INEI publishes

The monthly CPI release and gazette resolution, at the start of the following month.

2. BCRPData compiles

The series appears in the BCRP database under its own code, with a month label but no publication time.

3. FXMacroData row

Same official value, ISO date, numeric val, prior, change, source metadata, and announcement timestamp.

4. FX decision

Joined to US data, USD/PEN, bond yields, and copper and gold context in a script, dashboard, or agent.

Timing is the second difference. INEI's public release calendar lists release dates as all-day entries without a time, and BCRPData stamps observations with the reference period, not with when the figure became public. That is fine for monthly research, but a USD/PEN event study needs to know when the market could first see a number. When this article's chart data was retrieved in early October 2026, BCRPData's latest Lima CPI observation was August 2026, even though INEI's September resolution was published in El Peruano on 1 October, so anyone automating off BCRPData should also watch INEI directly for the newest print.

FXMacroData records a second-level announcement_datetime on every release row, and releases are typically available within seconds of official publication. The target is one second from publication, and the measured record, including every release that took longer, is published by source on the release-speed page. Peru's policy rate, GDP, and unemployment come through the same routes as US Federal Reserve policy rate data, so a rate-differential check needs no second schema.

API example: Peru CPI in the FXMacroData schema

A production request sends the key in the X-API-Key header. The path is the same for every currency; only the currency code and indicator slug change.

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" "https://api.fxmacrodata.com/v1/announcements/pen/inflation"

BCRPData shape

• config.title and series[].name in Spanish or English.
• periods[].name such as Ago.2026.
• periods[].values as strings, one per requested code.
• No publication timestamp or prior value.

FXMacroData row (illustrative)

• date: ISO reference period.
• val: numeric value, here annual CPI %.
• prior and pct_change for surprise and momentum work.
• announcement_datetime: epoch seconds of publication.

Takeaway: both carry the same official number; only one is ready to join against US CPI and USD/PEN prices by timestamp without custom parsing.

Where INEI and BCRPData are genuinely stronger

The official sources win clearly on several points, and an honest buyer should weigh them:

• Depth. BCRPData carries far more Peru series than any FX-focused API, including interbank and lending rates, exchange-rate operations, credit, and expectations surveys. If you need a series FXMacroData does not carry, go to BCRPData.
• Detail. INEI's workbooks and bulletins break CPI down by division and include the national index; FXMacroData concentrates on the market-moving headline and core measures.
• Cost. Free, keyless access with open reuse terms is hard to beat for students, academics, and Peru-only research.
• Final authority. When a figure is disputed, the INEI resolution and the BCRP table are the references everyone else, including FXMacroData, is measured against.

Where FXMacroData is stronger

FXMacroData is the stronger choice when Peru is part of a cross-currency process rather than the whole of it. One API key covers PEN alongside USD, EUR, BRL, and 18 other currencies, with the same field names, the same date format, and the same timestamp semantics. Around that sit the release calendar, FX spot rates, CFTC positioning for major currency futures, bond yields, commodities, central-bank press releases, data export, and embeddable widgets. For AI work, the MCP server lets an assistant pull Peru inflation and US policy data in one conversation and cite the official source on each row.

FXMacroData pros

• One schema for PEN and 21 other currencies.
• Second-level announcement timestamps and a public release-speed record.
• REST, OpenAPI, SSE, GraphQL, SDKs, and MCP.

FXMacroData tradeoffs

• Paid plan needed for PEN data.
• Curated set of FX-relevant series, not the full BCRP catalogue.
• Not the original publisher of any Peru statistic.

INEI and BCRPData pros

• Authoritative and free, with open reuse terms.
• A large series catalogue and full CPI detail.
• Keyless API with many output formats.

INEI and BCRPData tradeoffs

• Peru only; every other country needs its own adapter.
• No publication timestamps; calendar dates without times.
• String values, localised period labels, and Excel-first INEI downloads.

Takeaway: the official sources win on depth, cost, and authority; FXMacroData wins on cross-currency consistency, timing, and integration effort.

Decision matrix

Recommendation

Use INEI and BCRPData as your source of record for Peru. Bookmark the BCRPData API guide, note the series codes you care about (PN01273PM for Lima CPI annual change, PD04722MM for the monthly reference rate), and cite the BCRP or INEI whenever you publish a Peru figure. For a single-country research project, that may be all you need.

Choose FXMacroData when the sol is one of several currencies in your process and the data has to feed code: USD/PEN models, EM basket screens, release alerts, or an AI assistant. Start with the Peru overview and the PEN data coverage guide, check endpoints in the API reference, review the measured release-speed record, and compare plans; the Individual plan includes a 14-day trial.

Bottom line: INEI and BCRPData are the free, authoritative home of Peruvian macro data, and FXMacroData builds on them. FXMacroData is the better fit when you need the same official numbers in a cross-currency schema with announcement timestamps, pair context, and MCP access for USD/PEN and EM FX workflows.

Takeaway: verify with the official sources, and automate with the layer that already speaks the same language as your other 21 currencies.

Sources checked

The official-source claims above come from the public pages below, checked in October 2026. Where a publisher does not state something, such as a rate limit, the article says so rather than guessing.

BCRPData API guide

URL pattern, ten-series limit, formats, language option, no login needed.

View source

BCRPData conditions of use

Reproduction permitted with the source cited.

View source

BCRPData series used

Lima CPI 12-month change (PN01273PM) and the monthly reference rate (PD04722MM).

View reference rate

INEI price indices

Lima Metropolitan and national CPI workbooks and bases.

View source

September 2026 CPI resolution

INEI Resolution 209-2026-INEI in El Peruano.

View source

FXMacroData

Plans, API reference, MCP server, and the measured release-speed record.

View pricing

Takeaway: every official-source figure in this guide can be re-checked with a single keyless request or a public page.

Related reading

• FXMacroData vs the ECB Data Portal API, the same official-source question for the euro.
• FXMacroData vs Trading Economics, for buyers weighing an aggregator instead.
• The best macroeconomic data APIs in 2026, a wider market overview.