diff --git a/hledger-lib/hledger-lib.cabal b/hledger-lib/hledger-lib.cabal
index 0d9c5e9b5..07aa977c1 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/hledger-lib.cabal
+++ b/hledger-lib/hledger-lib.cabal
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ library
                   Hledger.Utils
                   Hledger.Utils.UTF8IOCompat
   Build-Depends:
-                  base >= 3 && < 5
+                  base >= 4.3 && < 5
                  ,bytestring
                  ,cmdargs >= 0.9.1   && < 0.10
                  ,containers
diff --git a/hledger-web/hledger-web.cabal b/hledger-web/hledger-web.cabal
index ac12cac11..09eeca41f 100644
--- a/hledger-web/hledger-web.cabal
+++ b/hledger-web/hledger-web.cabal
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ executable         hledger-web
     build-depends:
                      hledger == 0.18.2
                    , hledger-lib == 0.18.2
-                   , base                          >= 4          && < 5
+                   , base                          >= 4.3        && < 5
                    , cabal-file-th
                    , cmdargs >= 0.9.1   && < 0.10
                    , directory
diff --git a/hledger/hledger.cabal b/hledger/hledger.cabal
index 75cd59510..4831c67ab 100644
--- a/hledger/hledger.cabal
+++ b/hledger/hledger.cabal
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ library
   -- should be the same as below
   build-depends:
                   hledger-lib == 0.18.2
-                 ,base >= 3 && < 5
+                 ,base >= 4.3 && < 5
                  ,cabal-file-th
                  ,containers
                  ,cmdargs >= 0.9.1   && < 0.10
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ executable hledger
  -- should be the same as above
   build-depends:
                   hledger-lib == 0.18.2
-                 ,base >= 3 && < 5
+                 ,base >= 4.3 && < 5
                  ,cabal-file-th
                  ,containers
                  ,cmdargs >= 0.9.1   && < 0.10