United Arab Emirates Statutory delay interest on commercial debts
United Arab Emirates Statutory delay interest on commercial debts: 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 UAE fixes no statutory interest rate: delay interest on commercial debts accrues as of right, but at the agreed rate or, failing agreement, the market rate at the time of the transaction subject only to a 9% ceiling — a cap, not a rate. Interest on civil (non-commercial) loans is void.
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| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | Commercial Transactions Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022) Art. 72: 'A creditor may receive an interest on a commercial loan, as per the rate of interest stipulated in the contract. If such rate is not stated in the contract, it shall be calculated according to the rate of interest prevailing in the market at the time of transaction, provided that it does not exceed (9%) up to the full repayment'; Art. 84: on delay in repaying a sum certain the debtor 'shall be bound to pay the creditors as compensation for the delay the interest provided for in Articles (72) and (73), unless otherwise agreed' |
| 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 ON THE NUMBER, NOT ON THE RIGHT — UAE law gives a commercial creditor delay interest as of right but never fixes its rate. Federal Decree-Law 50/2022 (in force 2 January 2023): Art. 72 sets the rate as the CONTRACT rate, and only in its absence 'the rate of interest prevailing in the market at the time of transaction', subject to a ceiling of 9%. Art. 73 keeps the agreed rate running during delay. Art. 84 makes that same interest the compensation for late payment of a commercial money debt; Art. 85 dispenses with proof of damage; Art. 86 runs it from the maturity date. Art. 87 allows complementary compensation above the interest where the debtor acted deceptively. Art. 88 forbids COMPOUND interest (interest on frozen interest) and forbids dressing it up as complementary compensation. 9% IS A CEILING, NOT A RATE: the operative figure is the market rate the court finds for the time of the transaction, so awards vary case by case — both 5% and the 9% maximum are seen onshore — and no single number can be served as 'the' statutory rate. CIVIL DEBTS ARE THE OPPOSITE CASE: outside commercial transactions the Civil Transactions Law voids the interest term altogether (Art. 714 of the 1985 Code: a loan term giving 'a benefit in excess of the essence of the contract' is void while the contract stands), reflecting the Sharia prohibition on riba; the Commercial Transactions Law prevails for commercial transactions. THREE TRAPS: (1) STALE ARTICLE NUMBERS — the repealed Commercial Transactions Law (Federal Law 18/1993) carried the interest rules at Arts. 76 and 88 with a 12% ceiling; commentary still citing 'Arts. 76/88' or '12%' predates 2 January 2023. Under the 2022 Law the interest provisions are Arts. 72-73 and 84-88 and the ceiling is 9%. (2) THE CIVIL CODE HAS BEEN RECODIFIED — Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, issued 30 December 2025, replaces Federal Law 5/1985 in its entirety with effect from 1 June 2026; the 1985 numbering (including Art. 714) governs contracts concluded before that date. The commercial-debt position above is unaffected: it sits in the separate Commercial Transactions Law. (3) THE FINANCIAL FREE ZONES ARE DIFFERENT JURISDICTIONS — the 9% ceiling does not apply in the DIFC or ADGM, each of which has its own common-law court. DIFC Courts Practice Direction No. 4 of 2017 carries judgment interest at EIBOR plus 1% or such other rate as the judge prescribes; ADGM applies English law by virtue of its Application of English Law Regulations, leaving interest to the court's discretion. Retrieval note: uaelegislation.gov.ae returns 403 to automated fetchers — use the assets.u.ae official PDF cited above.
Get it programmatically
curl https://mearef.dev/v1/ae/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://mearef.dev/v1/ae/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://mearef.dev/provenance/ae/statutory-interestOther United Arab Emirates series: CBUAE Base Rate (Overnight Deposit Facility) · VAT standard rate · VAT registration threshold · Statutory minimum wage · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate Tax (headline rate) · Withholding tax rates · Personal income tax · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Bahrain · Iraq · Israel · Jordan · Kuwait · all 9