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% in February 2026 from 22.6% in February 2025.

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

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

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