Saudi Arabia Statutory default interest
Saudi Arabia Statutory default interest is 0 percent, in force since 16 Dec 2023. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Saudi Arabia has no statutory default interest: the rate is nil. Civil Transactions Law Art. 385 invalidates any interest condition, whether stipulated when the loan is made or on deferral of payment, and Art. 178 bars pre-agreed compensation where the obligation is a cash amount.
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| Current value | 0 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2023-12-16 |
| Official source | Civil Transactions Law (Royal Decree No. M/191 of 18 June 2023, in force 16 December 2023) Art. 385: 'Any condition requiring the payment of interest which the lender stipulates upon the conclusion of a loan contract or upon the deferral of payment shall be deemed invalid'; Art. 178: 'The contracting parties may specify in advance the amount of compensation whether in the contract or in a subsequent agreement, unless the subject of the obligation is a cash amount' |
| 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 — the rate is not unknown, it is nil. No interest accrues by operation of law on an overdue money debt in Saudi Arabia, and none can validly be contracted for: Civil Transactions Law Art. 385 invalidates an interest condition both at the making of a loan AND 'upon the deferral of payment', which is precisely the late-payment case. Art. 178 closes the other route by excluding cash obligations from pre-agreed (liquidated) compensation, so a creditor cannot convert interest into an agreed damages clause on an invoice. One rule for civil and commercial debts alike: the Civil Transactions Law governs both, and Sharia principles fill any gap, the Basic Law of Governance making the Qur'an and the Sunna the Kingdom's constitution and interest (riba) impermissible. WHAT A CREDITOR CAN STILL RECOVER: Art. 171 entitles the creditor to compensation for harm caused by the debtor's delay unless the delay was beyond the debtor's control — but this is PROVED ACTUAL LOSS, pleaded and evidenced item by item and assessed by the court, not a percentage running on the outstanding balance. Art. 175 requires notification of the debtor before compensation is due, subject to the exceptions in Art. 176. Art. 179 lets the court strike out agreed compensation where no harm is shown and reduce it where it is excessive. FINANCING IS NOT AN EXCEPTION: SAMA-licensed banks and finance companies transact through Sharia-compliant profit structures (murabaha, tawarruq, ijara) in which the return is embedded in the price rather than charged as interest — the label matters legally, and a plain interest term remains invalid. ENFORCEMENT TRAP: a Saudi enforcement court will enforce a foreign judgment or arbitral award while severing the interest component as contrary to public policy, so a claimant who wins interest abroad should not assume it is collectible in the Kingdom. Delay penalties under the Government Tenders and Procurement Law run against a contractor for late performance and are not creditor's interest. Retrieval note: laws.boe.gov.sa is unreliable for automated retrieval — the Bureau of Experts official English translation is mirrored as a PDF at the URL cited.
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curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/sa/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/sa/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://asiaref.dev/provenance/sa/statutory-interestOther Saudi Arabia series: SAMA Repo Rate · Value Added Tax (standard rate) · VAT registration threshold · Minimum wage for Saudi nationals (Saudization / Nitaqat) · Public holidays · Consumer Price Index inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate · Withholding tax rates · Personal income tax · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Singapore · South Korea · Sri Lanka · Taiwan · Thailand · all 28