Banks wrote off GH¢1.23bn as bad debt in the half-year 2026

Banks operating in Ghana wrote off GH¢1.23 billion in the first-half of 2026, according to the highlights of the Domestic Money Banks’ Income Statement. This was 38% year-on-increase over that of GH¢893.0 million recorded in June 2025. The provision was classified as loan losses and depreciation.

According to the July 2026 Monetary Policy Report, the asset quality risks remained elevated in the banking sector in June 2026, notwithstanding improvements in key asset quality indicators. The industry’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio declined to 16.1% in June 2026 from 23.1% in June 2025.

Similarly, the NPL ratio, adjusted for the fully provisioned loan loss category, improved to 4.6% from 8.5% over the same period. In addition, the stock of non-performing loans decreased to GH¢19.9 billion in June 2026, compared with GH¢20.7 billion a year earlier. 

These developments point to an improvement in credit risk conditions, although asset quality vulnerabilities remain a concern. The decomposition of NPLs continued to reflect the dominance of private sector credit in banks’ loan portfolios.

The private sector accounted for the largest share of NPLs, with its contribution rising to 98.0% in June 2026 from 96.4% in June 2025. In contrast, the share of NPLs attributable to the public sector declined to 2.0% from 3.6% over the same period. The distribution of NPLs remains broadly consistent with the sectoral composition of industry credit exposures.