Ghana

Ghana's banking system comprises 23 universal banks, alongside the state-owned Development Bank Ghana, licensed and supervised by the Bank of Ghana. Industry assets reached GH¢502.4bn (about US$44.3bn) at end-June 2026, up from GH¢384.3bn a year earlier. The largest institutions by FY2025 total assets are GCB Bank (GH¢52.6bn), Ecobank Ghana (GH¢47.3bn), Stanbic Bank Ghana (GH¢36.7bn) and Absa Bank Ghana (GH¢31.5bn). The market combines domestically controlled banks with subsidiaries of pan-African and international banking groups.

Balance sheets remain liquid and weighted towards securities rather than loans. Customer deposits rose to GH¢370.8bn in June 2026, while gross advances were GH¢124.3bn, a loan-to-deposit ratio of roughly one-third. Investments stood at GH¢192.8bn in February 2026, up 57.5% year on year, and core liquid assets equalled 32.6% of total assets in June 2026. A tiered cash reserve regime introduced in April 2024 links reserve requirements of 15–25% to each bank's loan-to-deposit ratio, penalising low lenders.

Capital has been rebuilt after losses from the domestic debt exchange launched in December 2022, alongside Ghana's US$3bn IMF programme agreed in May 2023. The industry capital adequacy ratio was 20.4% in June 2026, well above the 13% minimum. Asset quality is the principal weakness: the non-performing loan ratio fell from 23.1% to 16.1% in the year to June 2026, but remains high, and the Bank of Ghana has ordered all regulated institutions to bring NPL ratios below 10% by December 2026.

Operating conditions have improved markedly. Inflation fell from 54.1% in December 2022 to 5.4% in December 2025, and the policy rate was cut from 28% in July 2025 to 14% in March 2026; average lending rates dropped to 15.9% by August 2026 and private-sector credit grew 35.5% year on year. Key risks are renewed cedi weakness, which depreciated 7.9% against the dollar in the first half of 2026, imported inflation from higher oil prices, sovereign concentration and the pace of NPL clean-up.