Ghana's banks are still making money, just not as much as last year. New figures from the Bank of Ghana's July 2026 Monetary Policy Report show industry profit-after-tax slipped to GH¢7.1 billion at the end of June, down from GH¢7.2 billion a year earlier.
The drop itself, 1.3 percent, sounds small. But the real story is the reversal. This time last year, profits were up 32.6 percent. Pre-tax profit tells the same story, down 1.5 percent against a 32.2 percent jump in June 2025.
Net interest income took the hardest hit, contracting 3.1 percent after growing more than 20 percent the previous year.
The central bank points to the low interest-rate environment as the main culprit, and the numbers back that up. Interest spreads narrowed to 4.4 percent from 6.0 percent, while gross yields fell to 6.1 percent from 8.9 percent.
Fees rose, but provisions rose faster
Not everything went south. Fees and commissions grew 18.2 percent, even edging past last year's 17.8 percent pace, showing banks are leaning more on transaction-based income as lending margins shrink.
The bigger worry sits in provisioning. Charges for bad debts, depreciation and impairment losses jumped 38.2 percent, a stark swing from the 14.8 percent contraction recorded a year earlier. That alone eats into whatever fee income banks managed to gain.
Return on equity dropped to 22.9 percent from 32.2 percent. Return on assets fell to 4.4 percent from 5.6 percent.
Investment income still anchors the industry, though its share of total income slipped to 42.8 percent from 46.4 percent, while loans and advances contributed 28.4 percent, down from 30.1 percent.
The picture, then, is a sector still comfortably profitable, but clearly adjusting to a tighter margin environment than it enjoyed last year.
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