Growth in credit to Ghana’s private sector slowed markedly in 2025, even though the total value of loans to businesses and households continued to rise.
According to the Bank of Ghana’s January 2026 Monetary Policy Report, private sector credit expanded by 19.2% to reach GH¢106.2 billion in December 2025. However, this represents a significant slowdown compared to the stronger 26.3% growth recorded in 2024 a drop of 7.1 percentage points in the pace of expansion.
In real terms, the report notes that lending to the private sector actually declined relative to the previous year. This suggests that inflation and broader economic pressures reduced the true value of credit available to businesses and consumers, despite the nominal increase.
Credit to the public sector saw an even sharper contraction. Loans to government dropped by 25.5% to GH¢4.8 billion by the end of December 2025, indicating reduced government borrowing and tighter spending during the year.
Across the banking industry as a whole, total gross loans and advances grew by 16.2% to GH¢111.0 billion. This was also slower than the 24.1% growth recorded in December 2024, pointing to a broader cooling in lending activity.
Services sector dominates lending
An analysis of how credit was distributed across the economy shows that the services sector remained the largest beneficiary of bank financing. It accounted for 37.1% of total industry credit at the end of 2025, up from 31.7% a year earlier.
The commerce and finance sector ranked second, receiving 24.3% of total credit. However, this share declined from 27.0% in 2024, suggesting a relative shift in lending priorities.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector saw only a slight improvement, with its share rising marginally to 10.7% from 10.5% the previous year.
Together, the services, commerce and finance, and manufacturing sectors absorbed 72.1% of all bank lending in 2025 higher than the 69.3% recorded in 2024.
At the other end of the spectrum, the electricity, water and gas sector received the least credit, accounting for just 3.0% of total lending, down from 4.1% a year earlier.
Overall, the data points to a year of cautious lending, with banks expanding credit at a slower pace amid challenging economic conditions.
