More than half of the 23 banks in Ghana have fully capitalized, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, has disclosed.

According to him, most of the outstanding banks have met more than two-thirds of the required recapitalisation over a three-year period.

Announcing this to the press, the Governor said the banking sector has broadly remained stable despite the elevated credit risks.

In addition, the bank’s liquidity and profitability positions have continued to improve.

Meanwhile, trends in key financial soundness indicators were mixed.

The Capital Adequacy Ratio, adjusted for reliefs, was 13.6% in February 2024, above the regulatory minimum threshold of 13.0%, compared with 12.6% in February 2023.

Liquidity and profitability ratios also improved compared to a year earlier. The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio, on the other hand, increased to 24.6%, reflecting the downgrading of several large exposures to the banks. NPLs, excluding loss category, however, remained in single digits at 9.8%.

The Bank of Ghana said it expects that early completion of recapitalisation efforts will lead to more resilience of the banking sector and position it to provide stronger support for real sector recovery.

Credit to private sector remains weak

In a related development, the credit to the Private sector by banks continued to remain weak.

As of February 2024, private sector credit growth was 5.1% compared with a 29.5% growth recorded in February 2023.

In contrast, as of February 2024, banks’ investments in Government of Ghana and Bank of Ghana instruments stood at GH53.6 billion, an increase of 67.6% year-on-year, compared with an increase of 36.9% for the corresponding period of 2023.