The Bank of Ghana has disclosed a decline in the banking sector’s Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio, which dropped to 23.6% in April 2025 from 25.7% in April 2024.
This was highlighted in the Central Bank’s May 2025 Banking Sector Development Report. Adjusted for fully provisioned loan losses, the NPL ratio further declined to 9.0% in April 2025, down from 11.1% a year prior.
According to the report, “The decrease in the NPL ratio was attributable to the higher growth in total loans relative to the growth in NPL stock.” Industry data showed that the total NPL stock rose by 8.7% from GH¢20.0 billion in April 2024 to GH¢21.7 billion in April 2025.
The private sector was responsible for the majority of these loans, reflecting its broader credit exposure in the market. Private-sector NPLs climbed to 93.4% of the total in April 2025, compared to 91.0% the year before. Conversely, public-sector NPLs dropped from 9.0% to 6.6% over the same period.
Among the various economic sectors, agriculture, forestry, and fishing topped the NPL chart with a ratio of 62.1%, up from 58.7% in April 2024. The transportation, storage, and communications sector followed closely with a 53.9% NPL ratio, a rise from 49.0% the previous year.
On a more positive note, the construction sector saw the most substantial improvement, reducing its NPL ratio from 41.3% in April 2024 to 30.3% in April 2025.
Meanwhile, the mining and quarrying sector recorded the lowest NPL ratio at 9.8%, improving from 14.4% in the same period last year.
