Paraguay Statutory default interest (interés moratorio)
Paraguay Statutory default interest (interés moratorio): 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.
Paraguay fixes no legal interest percentage: the Código Civil invokes 'interés legal' without ever defining it, and the only statutory numbers are the BCP-referenced usury ceilings on agreed rates.
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| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | Código Civil (Ley 1.183/85) art. 475: 'En las obligaciones de dar sumas de dinero no podrán estipularse intereses moratorios o compensatorios ni comisiones superiores a las tasas máximas establecidas por el Banco Central del Paraguay, bajo pena de nulidad de la cláusula respectiva, cualquiera sea la denominación que se asigne a la prestación accesoria a cargo del deudor. Los intereses se deben por el hecho de la mora, aunque no se justifique el perjuicio... Los intereses en los créditos bancarios se regirán por su legislación especial'; Ley 2339/2003 amending art. 44 of Ley 489/95 Orgánica del Banco Central del Paraguay |
| 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 — Paraguay has a ceiling but no default rate, so no percentage can honestly be served as 'the' statutory interest. The Código Civil (Ley 1.183/85) repeatedly makes obligations run at the 'interés legal' — arts. 751, 1258, 1395 and 2374 among them — but nowhere in the Code is that rate given a number or tied to a published series. WHAT THE STATUTE DOES SAY. Art. 475 fixes only an upper bound: agreed moratory or compensatory interest and commissions may not exceed the maximum rates set by the Banco Central del Paraguay, on pain of nullity of the clause, whatever the accessory charge is called; interest is owed by the mere fact of default without the creditor having to prove loss; the creditor may not claim more on the ground that the actual loss was greater; compensatory and moratory interest added together may not exceed the maximum rate; and bank credit is carved out to its own special legislation. Art. 424 fixes WHEN default starts — automatically on expiry of an agreed term, but by interpellation where the term is only implied from the nature and circumstances of the obligation, and the debtor escapes the consequences of default only by proving it is not imputable to him. THE CEILING ITSELF: art. 44 of Ley 489/95 (Carta Orgánica del BCP), in the wording given by Ley 2339/2003, treats as usurious the compensatory and punitive rates whose effective rates exceed by thirty per cent the average annual effective rates charged by banks and finance companies on consumer credit — averages the BCP publishes monthly. The same article provides that compensatory interest converts into moratory interest from the moment of default and is then charged 'a una tasa no superior a la tasa pactada originalmente'; that a creditor may add punitive interest at no more than thirty per cent of the moratory rate; and that in no case may interest be capitalised on moratory or punitive interest. WHAT A CREDITOR CAN ACTUALLY CLAIM: where a rate was agreed, that rate (converted to moratory on default, subject to the usury ceiling, plus up to 30% of it as punitorio); where no rate was agreed, there is no statutory figure to fall back on — the amount is whatever the court fixes in its judgment, and a liquidation may not include compensatory, moratory or punitive interest that the judgment did not expressly award. Rates are also currency-specific in practice: the BCP publishes separate averages for guaraní and foreign-currency lending. Retrieval note: bacn.gov.py and bcp.gov.py both return HTTP 403 to automated fetchers; the Code text above was read from the official copy hosted at conatel.gov.py.
Get it programmatically
curl https://latamref.dev/v1/py/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://latamref.dev/v1/py/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://latamref.dev/provenance/py/statutory-interestOther Paraguay series: BCP monetary policy rate (TPM) · IVA standard rate · VAT registration threshold · Salario mínimo legal (monthly) · 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: Peru · Trinidad and Tobago · Uruguay · Argentina · Barbados · all 22