Algeria Statutory default interest (intérêt légal)
Algeria Statutory default interest (intérêt légal) is 0 percent, in force since 26 Sep 1975. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Algeria fixes no legal rate of default interest: the rate is nil. Civil Code Art. 454 makes a loan between private persons always unremunerated and voids any contrary clause, and Art. 186 answers late payment of a money debt with judicially assessed damages rather than a percentage.
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| Current value | 0 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 1975-09-26 |
| Official source | Code civil (Ordonnance n° 75-58 du 26 septembre 1975) Art. 454: 'Entre particuliers, le prêt est toujours sans rémunérations. Toute clause contraire est nulle et non avenue' (between private persons a loan is always without remuneration; any clause to the contrary is null and void); Art. 186: 'Lorsque l'objet de l'obligation entre personnes privées, consiste en une somme d'argent dont le montant est fixé au moment de la demande en justice, le débiteur est tenu, en cas de retard dans l'exécution, de réparer le dommage occasionné par ce retard' (the debtor in delay must repair the damage occasioned by that delay) — no rate is stated |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
AFFIRMATIVE ZERO — Algerian law does not merely leave the rate unfixed, it withholds remunerated lending from everyone except financial institutions. Civil Code Art. 454: between private persons — which includes ordinary companies, the distinction being with licensed financial institutions, not with consumers — a loan is ALWAYS without remuneration and any contrary clause is null and void. Moratory interest as such is not recognised. WHAT REPLACES IT: Art. 186 makes a debtor who is late paying a sum of money liable to repair the damage that delay caused, with the amount fixed as at the date of the judicial claim. That is judicially assessed compensation, proved item by item — there is no percentage running on the balance, and nothing accrues automatically before the court is asked. Art. 185: where the parties fixed compensation by agreement, the creditor cannot claim more than the agreed figure unless he proves the debtor's fraud or gross fault. Art. 187: the judge may reduce agreed compensation, or refuse it entirely, for any period the creditor prolonged the dispute in bad faith. THE CARVE-OUT IS INSTITUTIONAL, NOT COMMERCIAL: Arts. 455 and 456 permit financial institutions to pay interest on deposits and to charge interest on loans made to encourage national economic activity, in each case at a rate fixed by law. So a bank may charge interest where a supplier may not — the distinction turns on who the lender is. PUBLIC CONTRACTS ARE THE ONE PLACE A RATE APPEARS: under the public-procurement regime, late payment by a public buyer attracts intérêts moratoires computed on the Bank of Algeria's policy rate plus one percentage point, running once the payment deadline passes. That entitlement operates against public buyers under the procurement rules; it is not a general late-payment rate and cannot be claimed against a private debtor. DO NOT SERVE THE POLICY RATE AS A LEGAL RATE: figures circulating online that describe a Bank of Algeria rate as Algeria's 'taux d'intérêt légal' are conflating monetary policy with a statutory entitlement that does not exist. DATE NOTE: the effective_from served is the date of the Ordonnance itself (26 September 1975), not its commencement day.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/dz/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/dz/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/dz/statutory-interestOther Algeria series: Banque d'Algérie policy rate (taux directeur) · TVA standard rate (taux normal) · VAT registration threshold · SNMG · Public holidays (fêtes légales) · CPI inflation (year-on-year, national index) · IBS · Withholding tax rates · IRG · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Cameroon · all 34