Kuwait Legal interest on commercial debts (الفائدة القانونية)
Kuwait Legal interest on commercial debts (الفائدة القانونية) is 7 percent, in force since 25 Feb 1981. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Kuwait's legal interest: a fixed 7% per annum under Article 110 of the Commercial Code (Decree-Law 68/1980), payable as compensation for delay on a commercial money debt of known amount, and the default rate under Article 102 where a commercial loan fixes none.
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| Current value | 7 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 1981-02-25 |
| Official source | Commercial Code (Decree-Law No. 68 of 1980) Art. 110: 'اذا كان محل الالتزام التجاري مبلغا من النقود وكان معلوم المقدار وقت نشوء الالتزام وتأخر المدين في الوفاء به، كان ملزما ان يدفع للدائن على سبيل التعويض عن التأخير فوائد قانونية قدرها سبعة في المائة' (where the object of a commercial obligation is a sum of money known in amount when the obligation arose and the debtor delays payment, he is bound to pay the creditor, by way of compensation for the delay, legal interest of seven per cent); Art. 102(1): if no rate is fixed in the contract 'كانت الفائدة المستحقة هى الفائدة القانونية 7%-' (the interest due is the legal interest, 7%) |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
Fixed 7% per annum since the Commercial Code took effect on 25 February 1981 — no reference rate, no periodic setter, no indexation. It does double duty: Art. 102(1) makes it the fallback rate on a commercial loan where the contract fixes none, and Art. 110 makes it the compensation for delay where a commercial money debt of known amount is paid late. HOW IT RUNS: Art. 113 — interest for delay on commercial debts accrues from the moment the debt falls due, unless law or agreement says otherwise. Art. 112 — the creditor need NOT prove that the delay caused him damage, whether the interest is legal or contractual. Art. 114(1) — complementary compensation may be claimed on top of delay interest where the excess damage was caused by the debtor's fraud or gross fault; Art. 114(2) — the court may reduce or refuse interest altogether for a period the creditor prolonged the dispute in bad faith. Art. 109 — the court may not give a commercial debtor time to pay or allow instalments except where this Code provides or under extreme necessity. TWO HARD CEILINGS: Art. 111(1) — parties may agree a different rate, but not above the rates announced by the CENTRAL BANK OF KUWAIT, fixed by its Board with the Finance Minister's approval; an agreement above them must be reduced to the announced rate as at the date of the agreement and the excess repaid. Art. 111(2) treats any commission or benefit stipulated by the creditor as concealed interest, reducible where it answers no real service or lawful expense. Art. 115 — interest may NOT be charged on accrued interest (no compounding), and in no case may the total interest the creditor collects exceed the principal, subject to the exceptions in this Code, commercial rules and custom, and any rules laid down for long-term loans. SCOPE IS COMMERCIAL: these articles sit in the Commercial Code's chapter on commercial obligations, and a loan is commercial under Art. 101 where the borrowed money is intended to be spent on commercial business. Purely civil obligations fall under the Civil Code (Decree-Law No. 67 of 1980) instead — Kuwaiti law treats interest as a feature of commercial rather than civil transactions, so the 7% cannot simply be transposed onto a non-commercial debt. Art. 118: claims between merchants arising from their commercial dealings prescribe in ten years from maturity.
Get it programmatically
curl https://mearef.dev/v1/kw/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://mearef.dev/v1/kw/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://mearef.dev/provenance/kw/statutory-interestOther Kuwait series: CBK Discount Rate · Value-added tax (VAT) · VAT registration threshold · National minimum wage (private and oil sector) · Public holidays · Consumer Price Index (latest month) · Corporate income tax rate (foreign-owned share) · Withholding tax rates · Personal income tax · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Oman · Qatar · Saudi Arabia · United Arab Emirates · Bahrain · all 9