Bulgaria Statutory legal interest (законна лихва)
Bulgaria Statutory legal interest (законна лихва) is 10.4 percent, in force since 1 Jul 2026. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Bulgaria's statutory interest on overdue money obligations: the ECB main refinancing operations rate in force on 1 January or 1 July plus 8 percentage points, fixed for that half-year — 10.40% from 1 July 2026.
Compare statutory interest rate across all 34 European countries →
| Current value | 10.4 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-07-01 |
| Official source | Постановление № 426 на Министерския съвет от 18 декември 2014 г. за определяне размера на законната лихва по просрочени парични задължения, член единствен ал. 1, as amended by Постановление № 347 от 29 декември 2025 г. (ДВ, бр. 115 от 30.12.2025), § 1: '(1) Определя годишния размер на законната лихва за просрочени парични задължения в размер на лихвения процент по основните операции по рефинансиране на Европейската централна банка, в сила на 1 януари, съответно на 1 юли, на текущата година и обнародван в „Официален вестник“ на Европейския съюз, плюс 8 процентни пункта'; § 2: 'Постановлението влиза в сила от 1 януари 2026 г.' — ECB main refinancing rate 2.40% in force on 1 July 2026, giving 10.40% for the second half of 2026 |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
This is Bulgaria's single statutory rate — the законна лихва that Закон за задълженията и договорите чл. 86 makes payable as damages on any unpaid money obligation from the day of default, with the amount set by the Council of Ministers. Bulgaria does not split civil from commercial: the same figure carries the Late Payment Directive obligation for commercial transactions, so this API's Bulgarian late-payment-interest product shows the same number and moves with it. THE BASIS CHANGED ON 1 JANUARY 2026 AND MOST PUBLISHED GUIDANCE IS NOW WRONG. For all periods up to 31 December 2025 the rate was the BULGARIAN NATIONAL BANK base rate (основен лихвен процент) in force on 1 January or 1 July PLUS 10 PERCENTAGE POINTS. Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, the BNB stopped setting a base rate (its last was announced for December 2025), and Постановление № 347 of 29 December 2025 replaced the reference with the ECB main refinancing operations rate as published in the Official Journal of the EU and CUT THE MARGIN FROM 10 TO 8 PERCENTAGE POINTS, aligning it with art. 2(7)(a) of Directive 2011/7/EU. Interest running across 31 December 2025 must be split: BNB base + 10 up to that date, ECB MRO + 8 from 1 January 2026. HALF-YEARLY SNAPSHOT, NOT CONTINUOUS: ал. 3 of the same article makes the rate in force on 1 January applicable for the whole first half-year and the rate in force on 1 July applicable for the whole second half-year, so an ECB move mid-half-year has no effect until the next 1 January or 1 July. The rate was 10.15% for the first half of 2026 and stepped to 10.40% on 1 July 2026 after the ECB's June increase. 360-DAY DAILY CONVENTION: ал. 2 fixes the daily amount at 1/360 of the annual rate, not 1/365 — using an actual/365 day count understates every Bulgarian interest calculation by about 1.4%, and courts apply the 1/360 rule. NEXT FIXING: the rate for the half-year beginning 1 January 2027, taken from the ECB main refinancing rate in force on that date.
Get it programmatically
curl https://euroref.dev/v1/bg/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://euroref.dev/v1/bg/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://euroref.dev/provenance/bg/statutory-interest
Other Bulgaria series: Policy Rate (ECB Deposit Facility Rate) · Value Added Tax (Данък върху добавената стойност, ДДС) · VAT registration threshold · Statutory Minimum Wage (Минимална работна заплата за страната) · Public Holidays (Официални празници) · inflation rate (CPI) · Corporate Income Tax (Корпоративен данък) · Withholding tax rates · Personal Income Tax (Данък върху доходите на физическите лица) · Statutory social-insurance contributions · ECB main refinancing operations rate (fixed rate) · Late-payment interest (EU Late Payment Directive)
The same figure elsewhere: Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · all 34