RER Bilateral vis à vis the US$

The Real Exchange Rate (RER) bilateral vis-à-vis the US dollar is an index that measures the relative price of domestic goods and services compared to those of the United States. It is calculated by adjusting the nominal exchange rate by the ratio of the domestic Consumer Price Index (CPI) to the U.S. CPI, providing a key gauge of external competitiveness and currency over- or under-valuation. This indicator is part of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Latin Macro Watch for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Coverage

The RER index is available for 23 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly, and quarterly frequency, covering 1990 to 2026. Series are published as an index, including an index rebased to 2023 = 100, and seasonally adjusted, with average-of-period and end-of-period variants. Transformations include moving averages (MA3, MA6, MA12) and month-over-month (MoM %), quarter-over-quarter (QoQ %), and year-over-year (YoY %) changes.

Sources

Series are based on internal calculations using national central-bank and statistics-agency data, including Internal calculations based on Banco Central do Brasil data, Internal calculations based on Banco de Mexico, Internal calculations based on Banco de la República de Colombia data, and Internal calculations based on BCR Perú data, combined with the U.S. CPI. The Latin Macro Watch standardizes these real-exchange-rate series so analysts and policymakers can compare external competitiveness across the region on data.iadb.org.

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Format	CSV
Language	en
Country	Argentina Bahamas Trinidad & Tobago Belize Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia El Salvador Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Panama Uruguay Venezuela Barbados Paraguay Peru Suriname
Data notes	What does the RER bilateral vis-à-vis the US$ measure? It is an index measuring the relative price of domestic goods and services compared to those of the United States, calculated by adjusting the nominal exchange rate by the ratio of the domestic CPI to the U.S. CPI. It gauges external competitiveness. How many countries and which frequencies and periods are covered? The RER index is available for 23 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly, and quarterly frequency, covering 1990 to 2026. What units and transformations are available? Series are provided as an index, including a 2023 = 100 base, and seasonally adjusted, with average-of-period and end-of-period variants. Transformations include MA3, MA6, MA12 moving averages and MoM %, QoQ %, and YoY % changes. Where does the RER data come from? Series are based on internal calculations using national central-bank and statistics-agency data — such as Internal calculations based on Banco Central do Brasil data, Internal calculations based on Banco de Mexico, and Internal calculations based on BCR Perú data — combined with the U.S. CPI, then standardized by the IDB Latin Macro Watch. What are typical uses of this indicator? Analysts use the bilateral RER to assess external competitiveness, detect currency over- or under-valuation against the US dollar, study exchange-rate misalignment, and compare relative price levels across Latin American and Caribbean economies. How do I cite this indicator? Cite it as: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin Macro Watch — "RER Bilateral vis à vis the US$". data.iadb.org/dataset/latin-macro-watch-dataset.