Tunisia Legal interest (intérêt légal)
Tunisia Legal interest (intérêt légal) is 7 percent, in force since 15 Feb 1983. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Tunisia's legal interest under Article 1100 (nouveau) of the Code des obligations et des contrats: a fixed 7% per annum in civil matters. In commercial matters the rate is not fixed — it is the Central Bank's maximum bank overdraft rate plus half a point, which moves with each republication.
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| Current value | 7 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 1983-02-15 |
| Official source | Code des obligations et des contrats, Art. 1100 (nouveau): where the parties have not fixed the rate by agreement, the legal interest in civil matters is 'calculé à raison de 7% l'an' (calculated at 7% per annum), and in commercial matters it is equal to the maximum bank overdraft rate fixed by the Central Bank of Tunisia 'majoré d'un demi point' (increased by half a point) — this replaced the flat 5% of the décret du 20 août 1935 with effect from 15 February 1983 |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
TWO REGIMES IN ONE ARTICLE, AND ONLY ONE OF THEM IS A NUMBER. Art. 1100 (nouveau) of the Code des obligations et des contrats applies where the parties have NOT fixed a rate by agreement. CIVIL MATTERS: 7% per annum — the figure served here, unchanged since 15 February 1983, when Art. 1100 (nouveau) displaced the flat 5% set by the décret of 20 August 1935. COMMERCIAL MATTERS: no fixed figure. The rate is the TAUX MAXIMUM DU DÉCOUVERT BANCAIRE (TMDB) fixed by the Central Bank of Tunisia, plus half a percentage point — so it moves whenever the TMDB is republished and must be read from the current publication rather than derived from the policy rate or the TMM. As a scale reference, the TMDB stood near 14.99% through 2024, putting the commercial legal rate near 15.49%; do not carry those figures forward. WHERE TO READ THE TMDB: the effective average rates and the excessive-rate thresholds on which it rests are published for each half-year by ministerial arrêté in the Journal Officiel de la République Tunisienne on the basis of Central Bank data — the arrêté of 27 January 2026 covered the first half of 2026. Do NOT substitute the BCT policy rate (7.00% since 7 January 2026) or the TMM (6.99% in mid-2026) for the TMDB: they are different instruments and using them understates the commercial legal rate by several points. CALCULATION CONVENTION: commercial legal interest is computed as simple interest on the exact number of days over a 360-day year. CAPITALISATION: under Art. 1099 unpaid interest may be capitalised with the principal only on a written agreement, and the conditions differ between civil and commercial matters. DEBTOR'S ESCAPE (Art. 1101): where the stipulated interest exceeds the legal rate, the debtor always retains the right to repay the capital after one year from the contract, on two months' written notice to the creditor — a right that cannot be contracted away.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/tn/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/tn/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/tn/statutory-interestOther Tunisia series: BCT key policy rate (taux directeur) · TVA standard rate · VAT registration threshold · SMIG · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate (IS) · Withholding tax rates · Personal income tax brackets (IRPP) · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Uganda · Zambia · Algeria · Angola · Benin · all 34