Ghana’s banking sector has staged a significant turnaround, with total financial assets hitting a record GH¢493.9 billion and key safety indicators improving sharply across the industry, the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) disclosed at its latest press briefing.
“Banking sector performance improved significantly,” the central bank stated in its official release, attributing the recovery to a sustained influx of customer deposits, increased domestic borrowings and stronger capital injections by bank shareholders.
Total assets in the banking system expanded 26.6% year on year by April 2026, marking one of the sector’s strongest growth readings in recent years. Investment activity within banks accelerated even faster, rising 52.6% in April 2026, nearly double the 27.8% growth recorded during the same period a year earlier. Credit growth has also rebounded, with financial institutions growing more confident in extending loans to businesses and individuals as intermediation across the broader economy improves.
The sector’s solvency position has strengthened considerably. The Capital Adequacy Ratio, which measures a bank’s capacity to absorb unexpected financial losses, climbed to 22.3% in April 2026 from 17.5% recorded a year earlier. The increase indicates that commercial banks now carry significantly larger financial cushions to weather economic shocks without threatening depositors’ funds.
Asset quality improved in parallel. The Non Performing Loan (NPL) ratio, which tracks defaulted and toxic credit on bank balance sheets, fell to 18.0% from 23.6% the previous year. The decline reflects improved repayment behaviour among borrowers and a tangible reduction in the volume of bad loans weighing on the industry.
Despite the encouraging figures, the MPC stopped well short of declaring full recovery. The committee warned that elevated credit risk remains a key concern and directed commercial banks to maintain strict adherence to regulatory guidelines on non-performing loans, signalling that the central bank will not tolerate complacency even as the sector’s headline numbers improve.
