The September 2023 Banking Sector Development Report by the Bank of Ghana says that except for the manufacturing sector, all other sectors recorded higher non-performing loan (NPL) ratios in August 2023 compared with the same period in 2022.
The report revealed that the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors overtook the construction sector with the highest NPL ratio of 40.7% in August 2023.
The percentage the report explained represents a sharp increase from 30.0% a year ago.
The construction sector recorded a higher NPL ratio of 34.3%, up from 32.8% during the same reference period.
The NPL ratio of the transportation, storage, and communication sectors also rose to 25.2% from 22.1%, akin to the increase in the NPL ratio of the commerce and finance sectors to 23.1% from 20.2%.
That of the manufacturing sector declined to 14.1% in August 2023 from 16.3% in August 2022.
The electricity, water, and gas sectors accounted for the lowest NPL ratio of 8.7% in August 2023, higher than the 7.8% recorded during the same period in 2022.
The report stated the services sector accounted for 34.1% of the credit.
The sector is also the one that received the largest banking industry’s credit.
It accounted for 34.1% at the end of August 2023 (from 34.5% in August 2022).
It was followed by the commerce and finance sectors with a share of 20.9% (from 20.0% in August 2022), while the manufacturing sector accounted for a 10.7% share, slightly up from 10.1% in August 2022.
Together, these three sectors accounted for 65.7% of total credit in August 2023, compared with 64.6% in August 2022.
The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors remained the lowest recipients of total credit, with a share of 3.2%, up from 3.3% during the period under review.
