Guyana Statutory interest on debts and damages

What this value means

REFUSAL — no Guyanese statute attaches an interest rate to an unpaid invoice; interest arises only through court process, and the two figures in play answer different questions. PRE-JUDGMENT, DISCRETIONARY, CAPPED AT 6%: Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, Cap. 6:02, s. 12(1) lets the court, 'if it thinks fit', include in the judgment sum interest at any rate NOT EXCEEDING six per cent per annum, on the whole or any part of the debt or damages, for the whole or any part of the period between the accrual of the cause of action and judgment. Three provisos limit it: it does not authorise interest upon interest; it does not apply to a debt on which interest is already payable AS OF RIGHT, whether by agreement or otherwise — so a contractual rate governs and the section never touches it; and it does not affect damages recoverable for the dishonour of a bill of exchange. The Civil Law of Guyana Act, Cap. 6:01, s. 11(2) says the same thing for contract claims in slightly different words: 'In all proceedings before any court of justice founded upon contract in which no rate of interest is specifically stated, the court shall award interest, if it so thinks fit, at the rate of six per cent per annum and no more.' Both are ceilings coupled with a discretion, not entitlements, so a creditor cannot invoice 6% and cannot assume a court will award it. Section 11(1) preserves any rate already recoverable by contract or by rule of law. POST-JUDGMENT, AUTOMATIC, 4%: s. 12(2) is the one hard rule — every judgment carries interest at four per cent per annum from the time of entry until satisfied, and that interest may be levied under a writ of execution on the judgment. It is mandatory, needs no order, and is the number to use when computing what a judgment debtor owes over time. PROCEDURE MATTERS: under the Civil Procedure Rules 2016 a claimant who wants interest MUST plead it — the statement of claim has to state the basis of the entitlement, the rate and the period sought, and for a specified sum must state the total interest to the date of issue plus the daily rate accruing after; an order for payment of money on which interest is payable must set out the rate and the date from which it runs. The CPR define the 'statutory rate of interest' by reference to Cap. 6:02, and default judgment on a specified sum with interest at an unspecified rate may be entered with interest at that statutory rate from the date of claim to the date of the default judgment. Retrieval note: mola.gov.gy returns 403 and 404 to automated fetchers and the volume-level PDF paths are unstable; the chapter-level copies at lawyerguyana.com/lawsofguyana/Laws/ resolve, and the Civil Law of Guyana Act consolidation is mirrored on natlex.ilo.org.

Get it programmatically

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

Other Guyana series: Bank of Guyana Bank Rate (rediscount rate) · Value-Added Tax standard rate · VAT registration threshold · National Minimum Wage (private sector) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporation tax standard rate (non-commercial company) · Withholding tax rates · Personal income tax rates · Statutory social-insurance contributions

The same figure elsewhere: Honduras · Jamaica · Mexico · Nicaragua · Panama · all 22