Ghana’s private sector maintained positive momentum in April but showed signs of strain as rising input costs weighed on business activity, pushing the headline index lower while new orders, employment and purchasing activity continued to expand.
The S&P Global Ghana Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) registered 50.3 in April, retreating from 51.4 in March but holding above the 50.0 threshold that separates expansion from contraction for a second consecutive month. The reading signals a marginal improvement in overall business conditions, though the pace of growth clearly decelerated at the start of the second quarter.
New orders rose for the third successive month, though the rate of expansion eased to a modest level. Stable economic conditions and gradually improving customer demand helped firms win new business, but some companies reported that delays in payments to cocoa farmers had affected their ability to secure orders.
Business activity fell marginally, the third decline in four months, with a number of respondents pointing to rising prices as the primary reason for the pullback. Input costs increased for the first time in six months, driven by simultaneous rises in purchase prices and staff costs. The upturn in purchase prices was the sharpest in a year and the first since October 2025, with firms citing higher fuel prices and more expensive imported items as key drivers.
Despite higher wage bills, companies continued to hire. Employment rose for the fifteenth consecutive month in April, with firms linking the increase to higher order volumes and the filling of vacant positions. Purchasing activity expanded for a second consecutive month as companies responded to stronger demand and sought to build stocks ahead of anticipated supply and price pressures.
With input costs climbing, businesses raised their selling prices fractionally, ending an 11-month sequence of price reductions. Stocks of purchases continued to accumulate, extending a run of inventory building that started in October 2024. Supplier delivery times shortened, though the improvement was the least pronounced in a year.
Business confidence in the 12-month outlook remained strongly positive, ticking up from March as firms expressed hope that improving economic conditions and price stability would sustain new order growth.
Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said “new orders continued to rise, feeding through to sustained increases in employment” but cautioned that emerging price pressures limited overall activity. He said the trajectory of input costs over the coming months would be a key determinant of the economy’s performance through the second quarter.
