Asset quality risks of banks remain elevated despite decline in NPL ratio

by Business Post

The asset quality risks of banks remained elevated in February 2026, even though the industry’s Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio declined to 18.4 percent in February 2026 from 22.6 percent in February 2025.

Similarly, the NPL ratio adjusted for the fully provisioned loan loss category declined from 8.9 percent to 5.4 percent during the same comparative period.

The NPL stock also contracted by 5.8 percent to GH¢19.9 billion in February 2026 compared with a growth of 14.9 percent recorded in February 2025.

The decomposition of the NPL showed that the private sector accounted for the most non-performing loans, in line with its dominant holdings in total credit.

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The proportion of NPLs attributable to the private sector increased to 98.1 percent in February 2026 from 96.2 percent in February 2025, while that of the public sector declined to 1.9 percent from 3.8 percent a year earlier.

The decline in the industry NPL ratio year-on-year reflected improvements in asset quality across all but the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector during the review period.

Accordingly, the NPL ratio in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector increased from 51.6 percent to 54.7 percent during the review period.

All other sectors recorded improvements in asset quality during the review period.

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