Ghana’s private sector remained in expansion territory for a second consecutive month in April 2026, but a renewed rise in input costs for the first time in six months introduced fresh inflationary pressure that weighed on business activity and ended an 11-month sequence of falling selling prices, according to the latest S&P Global Ghana Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
The headline PMI posted 50.3 in April, down from 51.4 in March but remaining above the 50.0 no-change threshold that separates expansion from contraction. The index is compiled monthly from responses by purchasing managers at approximately 400 private sector companies, with data for April collected between April 9 and 28, 2026.
New orders grew for a third consecutive month, supported by stable economic conditions and improving customer demand. The rate of expansion slowed, however, and remained only modest. Some firms reported that delays in payments to cocoa farmers had affected their ability to secure new business during the period.
Business activity fell for the third time in the past four months, with some respondents linking the decline directly to rising prices. Overall input costs rose for the first time since October 2025, driven by higher purchase prices, themselves the first increase in about six months and the most marked in a year as well as solid growth in staff costs. Firms cited higher fuel prices and greater costs for imported items as key drivers of the purchase price increase. In response to rising input costs, companies raised their own selling prices fractionally, ending the extended sequence of price reductions.
Despite the cost pressures, employment expanded for the fifteenth consecutive month, with firms connecting new hires to higher order volumes and the filling of vacant positions. Companies also expanded purchasing activity for a second straight month, partly to build stocks in anticipation of expected price and supply disruptions ahead. Stocks of purchases continued to accumulate, extending a sequence that began in October 2024.
Business confidence in the 12-month outlook ticked up from March and remained strongly positive, with optimism anchored in expectations of continued improvement in economic conditions and hopes for price stability.
Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, noted the data painted a mixed picture at the start of the second quarter, with sustained order growth and employment gains offset by the emergence of input cost pressures that could limit activity in the months ahead. He described the trajectory of price pressures over the coming months as likely to be the key determinant of economic fortunes through Q2 and beyond.
