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Uganda Statutory late-payment interest

Uganda Statutory late-payment interest: 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.

Uganda fixes no statutory interest on overdue money obligations; interest is a matter of contract or judicial discretion, with a residual 6% per year that applies only where a money decree is silent about post-decree interest.

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Current valuestructured — see the API
In force from—
Official sourceCivil Procedure Act (Cap 282, formerly Cap 71) s 26(2): 'Where and insofar as a decree is for the payment of money, the court may, in the decree, order interest at such rate as the court deems reasonable to be paid on the principal sum adjudged from the date of the suit to the date of the decree ... with further interest at such rate as the court deems reasonable on the aggregate sum so adjudged from the date of the decree to the date of payment'; s 26(3): 'Where such a decree is silent with respect to the payment of further interest ... the court shall be deemed to have ordered interest at 6 percent per year'; s 26(1): where an agreed rate 'is harsh and unconscionable and ought not to be enforced by legal process, the court may give judgment for the payment of interest at such rate as it may think just'
Last verified2026-08-10
Verificationprimary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited.
Provenancesource fingerprint

What this value means

REFUSAL — no Ugandan statute gives a creditor a default interest rate on an unpaid debt. What exists instead: (1) CONTRACT — the agreed rate governs, but a court may substitute a rate it thinks just where it finds the agreed rate harsh and unconscionable (s 26(1)); the Supreme Court has used this power to temper commercial interest clauses. (2) JUDICIAL DISCRETION — interest from the date of suit to the date of the decree, and from the decree to payment, is awarded 'at such rate as the court deems reasonable' (s 26(2)); there is no statutory floor, ceiling or reference rate, and Ugandan courts commonly fix a commercial rate by reference to prevailing bank lending rates. (3) RESIDUAL DECREE RATE — 6% per year, which applies only where the decree itself says nothing about post-decree interest (s 26(3)); it is a gap-filler for silent decrees, not a rate a creditor can charge on an invoice. The 6% is not indexed to the Bank of Uganda central bank rate and has not moved. No civil/commercial split exists. CITATION TRAP: the Act was renumbered in the 2023 revision of the Laws of Uganda — it is now Chapter 282; older filings and textbooks cite Chapter 71. The section number (26) is unchanged. Retrieval note: ulii.org sits behind a bot check that blocks automated fetchers; WIPO Lex carries the full consolidated text of the Act.

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# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History:    curl https://afriref.dev/v1/ug/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/ug/statutory-interest

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The same figure elsewhere: Zambia · Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · all 34