Prescribed Rate of Interest Act, 1975 (Act No. 55 of 1975)1. Rate at which interest on debt is calculated in certain circumstances |
[Heading substituted by section 3 of Act No. 24 of 2015, GG 39587, dated 8 January 2016]
| (1) | If a debt bears interest and the rate at which the interest is to be calculated is not governed by any other law or by an agreement or a trade custom or in any other manner, such interest shall be calculated at the rate contemplated in subsection (2)(a) as at the time when such interest begins to run, unless a court of law, on the ground of special circumstances relating to that debt, orders otherwise. |
| (2) |
| (a) | For the purposes of subsection (1), the rate of interest is the repurchase rate as determined from time to time by the South African Reserve Bank, plus 3,5 percent per annum. |
| (b) | The Cabinet member responsible for the administration of justice must, whenever the repurchase rate is adjusted by the South African Reserve Bank, publish the amended rate of interest1 contemplated in paragraph (a) by notice in the Gazette. |
| (c) | The interest rate contemplated in paragraph (b) is effective from the first day of the second month following the month in which the repurchase rate is determined by the South African Reserve Bank. |
| (3) | For purposes of this section— |
| (a) | "repurchase rate" means the rate at which banks borrow rands from the South African Reserve Bank; and |
| (b) | "south African Reserve Bank" means the central bank of the Republic regulated in terms of the South African Reserve Bank Act, 1989 (Act No. 90 of 1989). |
[Section 1 substituted by section 3 of the Judicial Matters Amendment Act, Act No. 24 of 2015, GG 39587, dated 8 January 2016]
1 10% per annum, effective 1 May 2018 - GN 435 in Government Gazette 41581 dated 20 April 2018