Josiah
Banks in Ghana wrote off GH¢1.23 billion as bad debt in the first six months of 2026.
Data from the Domestic Money Banks’ Income Statement shows the figure is 38% higher than the GH¢893 million written off in June 2025. The amount was captured as loan losses and depreciation.
The development is detailed in the Bank of Ghana’s July 2026 Monetary Policy Report.
According to the report, even though key indicators have improved, risks in the sector remain high.
The industry’s non-performing loan ratio dropped to 16.1% in June 2026, from 23.1% recorded in June 2025. When adjusted for the fully provisioned loan loss category, the ratio also improved from 8.5% to 4.6% within the same period.
The total stock of non-performing loans also went down. It fell to GH¢19.9 billion in June 2026, compared to GH¢20.7 billion a year before.
The report notes that while these numbers point to better credit risk conditions, asset quality is still a concern.
A breakdown of the data shows private sector loans continue to dominate the bad loans. The private sector’s share of NPLs increased to 98.0% in June 2026, from 96.4% in June 2025.
The public sector’s share, on the other hand, declined to 2.0% from 3.6% over the same period.
The Bank of Ghana said the distribution of NPLs largely mirrors how credit is spread across sectors.
Source: Omanghana
