Benin public holidays
Jours feries chomes et payes of Benin for calendar 2026, per the fetes legales law and Ministry of Labour declarations.
| Current value | 14 days held |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-01-01 |
| In force until | 2026-12-31 |
| Official source | Loi n. 90-019 du 27 juillet 1990 fixant les fetes legales en Republique du Benin; Loi n. 2024-32 du 02 septembre 2024 fixant la fete annuelle des religions traditionnelles; communiques du Ministere du Travail et de la Fonction Publique (MTFP) fixing each observance |
| Last verified | 2026-07-20 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
14 paid holiday dates in 2026 (13 observances; the traditional-religions feast spans two days). Loi 2024-32 (02/09/2024) moved the fete annuelle des religions traditionnelles from the fixed 10 January (former Loi n. 97-031 du 20 aout 1997) to the SECOND FRIDAY of January plus the preceding Thursday: MTFP communique n. 001/MTFP/DC/SGM/DGT/SA of 02/01/2026 (scanned PDF loaded from travail.gouv.bj) declares Thu 08 + Fri 09 Jan 2026 feriees chomees payees. Islamic dates are moon-sighting dependent and fixed by MTFP communique days before each feast: Korite declared Fri 20/03/2026 (communique of 18/03/2026, page loaded: travail.gouv.bj/page/communiques/fete-de-ramadan-au-benin); Tabaski declared Wed 27/05/2026 (MTFP communique of 22/05/2026, confirmed via multiple outlets quoting the ministry - the travail.gouv.bj page itself was not located); Maouloud EXPECTED Wed 26/08/2026 - PROVISIONAL until the MTFP communique issues (~late Aug). Per-day MTFP communiques for 01/01, 06/04, 01/05, 14/05 and 25/05/2026 all located on travail.gouv.bj. NO statutory weekend substitution/in-lieu mechanism: Fete Nationale (Sat 01/08), Assomption (Sat 15/08) and Toussaint (Sun 01/11) are observed on the day with no replacement day. Deliberately excluded (commemorative, NOT paid holidays): 16 Jan (Journee du Souvenir), 28 Feb (Journee de la souverainete du peuple), 8 Mar (Journee internationale des droits des femmes).
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/bj/public-holidays
# Free.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/bj/public-holidays/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/bj/public-holidaysOther Benin series: policy interest rate · VAT rate · minimum wage · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates