Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama
Banks in the country wrote off GH¢1.23 billion in bad loans during the first half of 2026, representing a 38 percent increase over the GH¢893 million recorded during the corresponding period in 2025.
The figure, classified as loan losses and depreciation, was contained in the highlights of the Domestic Money Banks’ Income Statement published by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The July 2026 Monetary Policy Report, however, showed an improvement in the banking sector’s non-performing loan (NPL) position during the period under review.
The industry’s NPL ratio declined to 16.1 percent in June 2026 from 23.1 percent in June 2025, while the NPL ratio adjusted for fully provisioned loan-loss category improved to 4.6 percent from 8.5 percent over the same period.
The stock of NPLs also decreased to GH¢19.9 billion in June 2026, compared with GH¢20.7 billion a year earlier.
The developments suggest an improvement in credit risk conditions in the banking sector, although asset quality challenges remain a concern.
The report indicated that the private sector accounted for the overwhelming majority of NPLs, with its share increasing to 98 percent in June 2026 from 96.4 percent in June 2025.
In contrast, NPLs attributable to the public sector declined to two percent from 3.6 percent over the same period.
The increase in loan write-offs alongside the decline in the NPL ratio could reflect efforts by banks to clean up their loan portfolios and remove impaired facilities from their books, the BoG report indicated.
The banking industry had also recorded a decline in NPLs in October 2025, when total NPLs fell by 6.2 percent to GH¢20.1 billion from GH¢21.4 billion in October 2024.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah