Democratic Republic of the Congo Moratory interest (intérêts moratoires)
Democratic Republic of the Congo Moratory interest (intérêts moratoires): no single figure applies. The reason is set out below, cited to the governing instrument. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo fixes no legal interest rate: article 51 of Book III of the Civil Code states in terms that the rate of moratory interest is set by the judge, case by case.
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| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | Code civil congolais, livre III (Décret du 30 juillet 1888), art. 51: 'Dans les obligations qui se bornent au payement d'une certaine somme, les dommages et intérêts résultant du retard dans l'exécution ne consistent jamais que dans la condamnation aux intérêts dont le taux sera fixé par le juge. Ces dommages et intérêts sont dus sans que le créancier soit tenu de justifier d'aucune perte. Ils ne sont dus que du jour de la demande, excepté dans les cas où la loi les fait courir de plein droit'; annotation: 'Les intérêts moratoires sont fixés par le juge qui doit, dans chaque cas, les proportionner au préjudice subi' |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
REFUSAL — there is no rate to serve, and this is a deliberate feature of Congolese law rather than a gap. Where the French and Portuguese codes of the same family send the judge to a legal rate fixed by decree, the Congolese text of article 51 says the rate 'sera fixé par le juge': the judge sets it, and the settled rule is that he must proportion it in each case to the loss actually suffered. Consequences a creditor must plan around: (1) interest on a money debt runs only FROM THE DATE OF DEMAND, unless a specific law makes it run automatically; (2) moratory interest is due without the creditor proving any loss, but the amount is at the court's discretion; (3) judicial interest is awarded only if it is expressly claimed in the originating writ — omit it from the pleading and it is lost; (4) where the debtor's refusal to perform is culpable, damages may exceed the article 51 interest. Compound interest is restricted by article 52: interest may bear interest only by judicial demand or special agreement, and only on interest due for at least a full year. NO CENTRAL-BANK LINKAGE: the Banque Centrale du Congo policy rate is a monetary instrument and has no statutory role in fixing moratory interest. OHADA membership does not fill the gap either — the Acte uniforme on simplified recovery procedures and enforcement measures governs the procedure for recovering a debt, not the interest rate on it. In practice the contract rate governs where the parties agreed one. CITATION NOTE: this Book III is often cited as 'CCZ, livre III' (Code civil zaïrois) in older judgments and commentary — same text.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/cd/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/cd/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/cd/statutory-interestOther Democratic Republic of the Congo series: BCC taux directeur (policy rate) · TVA taux normal (standard VAT rate) · VAT registration threshold · SMIG · Public holidays · Inflation en glissement annuel (year-on-year CPI inflation) · Impôt sur les sociétés (IS) · Withholding tax rates · IRPP · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Egypt · Equatorial Guinea · Eswatini · Ethiopia · Gabon · all 34