The Bahamas Statutory interest on judgment debts
The Bahamas Statutory interest on judgment debts is 6.25 percent, in force since 5 Jan 2017. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
The Bahamas' rate on judgment debts is formula-linked, not fixed: the Civil Procedure (Rate of Interest) Rules 2008 set it at the Prime Rate published by the Central Bank of The Bahamas plus two per centum per annum — 6.25% per annum while Prime stands at 4.25%.
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What this value means
HOW THE NUMBER IS BUILT: Bahamian judgment-debt interest is the Central Bank of The Bahamas' published PRIME RATE plus 2 percentage points. Prime has stood at 4.25% since 5 January 2017 — when commercial banks cut it from 4.75% at the Central Bank's request, following the Bank's reduction of the Discount Rate to 4.00% effective 22 December 2016 — so the judgment rate is 6.25% per annum. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THE DISCOUNT RATE: the Central Bank publishes both, they are different numbers (Discount Rate 4.00%, Prime Rate 4.25% as at June 2026), and the Rules take PRIME. NO SCHEDULED FIXING: there is no half-yearly or annual reset. The rate moves only when the Prime Rate moves, which in The Bahamas is rare and unscheduled (4.25% since 2017; 4.75% from 2011; 5.5% from 2005; 6.0% from 1999). Re-read the Central Bank's published Prime Rate rather than assuming 6.25% persists. SCOPE — POST-JUDGMENT. The rate attaches to a judgment debt, not to unpaid invoices; The Bahamas has no statutory late-payment interest for commercial debts outside contract. It runs from entry of judgment in the Supreme Court, and from the date of pronouncement in open court for a Magistrate's Court judgment, in each case until satisfaction (s. 2(2)) — the incipitur rule. It does NOT apply where interest on the judgment debt is already payable as of right by agreement or otherwise (proviso to s. 2(1)). The same rate is applied to taxed costs from the date the costs order is made. PRE-JUDGMENT INTEREST IS DISCRETIONARY: under s. 3(1) any court, whether or not a court of record, may include interest 'at such rate as it thinks fit' for all or part of the period between accrual of the cause of action and judgment, with the usual three carve-outs (no interest upon interest; no application where interest is payable as of right; no effect on damages for dishonour of a bill of exchange). Section 3(2) makes an interest award effectively mandatory, absent special reasons, where judgment exceeds $3,000 and includes damages for personal injuries or death; s. 3(3) permits different rates for different parts of the period. Simple interest — neither the Act nor the Rules provide for compounding.
Get it programmatically
curl https://usaref.dev/v1/bs/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://usaref.dev/v1/bs/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://usaref.dev/provenance/bs/statutory-interestOther The Bahamas series: Central Bank of The Bahamas Discount Rate (Bank Rate) · VAT standard rate · VAT registration threshold · National minimum wage (weekly) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate · Withholding tax rates · Personal income tax brackets · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: United States · Canada · Costa Rica · Dominican Republic · El Salvador · all 10