Consumer spending, proxied by domestic Value Added Tax (VAT) collections and retail sales, posted a mixed performance in March 2026, the May 2026 Monetary Policy Report of the Bank of Ghana has revealed.

This is compared with the corresponding period in 2025.

According to the report, domestic VAT collections increased by 35.7% on a year-on-year basis to GH¢2.064 billion, from GH¢1.521 billion.

Cumulatively, total domestic VAT for the first quarter of 2026 went up by 20.8% to GH¢5.818 billion compared with GH¢4.815 billion for the corresponding period of last year.

Retail sales moderated by 1.9% year-on-year to GH¢262.84 million in March 2026, down from the GH¢268.00 million recorded in the same period in 2025.

Conversely, on a month-on-month basis, retail sales improved by 13.2% in March 2026 from GH¢232.25 million in the preceding month. In cumulative terms, retail sales for the first quarter of 2026 went up by 5.0%.

Manufacturing Activities

Activities in the manufacturing sub-sector, gauged by trends in the collection of direct taxes and private sector workers’ contributions to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Pension Scheme (Tier-1), improved in March 2026.

Total direct taxes collected increased by 40.6% year-on-year to GH¢12.269 billion in March 2026, relative to GH¢8.724 billion recorded in a similar period in 2025.

Cumulatively, total direct taxes collected for the first quarter of 2026 went up by 20.4% to GH¢22.830 billion, from GH¢18.959 billion for the same period in 2025.

In terms of contributions of the various sub-tax categories, corporate tax accounted for 65.7%, income tax (PAYE and self-employed) accounted for 20.9%, while “Other Tax Sources” contributed 13.4%.

Construction Sector Activities

Activity in the construction sub-sector, proxied by the volume of cement sales, declined by 10.7% (year-on-year) in March 2026 to 226,629.10 tonnes. This is down from 253,754.47 tonnes recorded a year ago.

However, on a month-on-month basis, total cement sales increased by 11.7% in March 2026 compared with the 202,855.19 tonnes recorded in February 2026.

Cumulatively, cement sales for the first quarter of 2026 declined by 10.0% to 636,283.18 tonnes compared to 706,709.11 tonnes for the same period of 2025.

The relative decline in total cement sales, year-on-year, was due to a moderation in construction activities during the review period.