Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama told Parliament on Monday that Ghana’s banking sector has completed its most critical phase of post-crisis recovery and is now firmly positioned to drive the country’s broader economic revival.
Presenting the central bank’s 2025 Monetary Policy Report to the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Development, Asiama said improving capital adequacy, declining non-performing loans and growing deposits now signal renewed confidence and resilience within the sector.
“Through recapitalisation efforts and close supervisory engagement, the banking system has strengthened considerably. Capital adequacy improved to 17.5 per cent, comfortably above the 13 per cent regulatory minimum. The non-performing loan ratio declined from 21.8 per cent to 18.9 per cent, and banks now have a clear roadmap to reduce non-performing loans towards 10 per cent by end-2026,” he said.
The figures reflect a sector that entered 2025 under strain. The Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) had eroded capital buffers, constrained lending and shaken depositor confidence across the industry. Asiama acknowledged that the programme, while necessary to restore debt sustainability, forced financial institutions to absorb reduced returns on government securities while managing rising levels of bad loans.
The balance sheet recovery since then has been substantial. Total banking sector assets rose from GH₵368 billion to GH₵447 billion, while deposits grew by nearly 18 percent, climbing from GH₵276 billion to GH₵325 billion. Liquid assets now cover approximately 96 percent of deposits. Gross loans increased from GH₵95 billion to GH₵111 billion, and cumulative new loan disbursements jumped from GH₵80.95 billion in October 2025 to GH₵104.17 billion by December.
Credit to the private sector accelerated sharply, with nominal growth exceeding 19 percent and real growth reaching 13 percent, compared with just 2 percent the previous year. “The banking system today is liquid, solvent, and profitable, and increasingly positioned to support Ghana’s economic recovery,” Asiama told lawmakers.
The governor framed the sector’s health as directly consequential for ordinary Ghanaians. “A stronger banking system means more credit flowing into the economy, where jobs and growth are created,” he said, adding that macroeconomic stability must ultimately be reflected in the strength of the domestic financial system.
Looking ahead, Asiama said the central question for 2026 is no longer whether stability can be restored but how the sector can be structurally strengthened to support Ghana’s long-term development. He pointed to the passage of the Bank of Ghana Amendment Act, 2025, which bolsters the central bank’s operational independence, and a new regulatory framework for digital assets as part of the architecture supporting the next phase of financial sector growth.
He cautioned that global commodity price volatility and shifts in international financial conditions remain risks that could weigh on the domestic outlook, pledging that the central bank’s decisions would remain grounded in data.
