Building a Real-Time Exchange Rate Monitor for Gulf Expats

Every month, millions of expats in Gulf countries send money home. INR, PKR, BDT, PHP, EGP — billions flow through remittance corridors.

The problem? Exchange rates fluctuate constantly, and timing your transfer can save (or cost) you significant money.

The Expat's Dilemma

An Indian engineer in Dubai earning AED15,000/month sends home INR roughly every month. The difference between a good rate and a bad rate can be INR2,000-5,000 per transfer.

That's a month's groceries.

What We Built

RemitAlert monitors exchange rates across:

UAE: AED → INR, PKR, BDT, PHP
Saudi Arabia: SAR → INR, PKR, BDT, EGP
Qatar: QAR → INR, PKR, LKR
Kuwait/Bahrain/Oman: All major corridors

Key Features

Real-time rate monitoring — Updates every15 minutes
Historical tracking — See rate trends over days/weeks
Alert thresholds — Get notified when rates hit your target
Zakat calculator — Islamic finance compliance built-in

Technical Implementation

class ExchangeRateMonitor:
    def __init__(self):
        self.sources = [
            CentralBankAPI(),    # Official rates
            WiseAPI(),           # Market rates
            ExchangeHouseAPI(),  # Local rates
        ]
        self.corridors = load_corridors()

    def get_best_rate(self, from_curr, to_curr):
        rates = []
        for source in self.sources:
            rate = source.get_rate(from_curr, to_curr)
            rates.append({
                'source': source.name,
                'rate': rate,
                'fee': source.get_fee(from_curr, to_curr),
                'effective_rate': rate - source.get_fee(from_curr, to_curr)
            })
        return sorted(rates, key=lambda x: x['effective_rate'], reverse=True)