The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has announced plans to issue a Credit Risk Management Directive and a Liquidity Coverage Ratio Directive as part of efforts to strengthen the resilience of the banking sector, following the 132nd Monetary Policy Committee meeting held from September 23 to 24, 2026.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, disclosed this during a post-MPC engagement with heads of banks in Accra on Tuesday, October 6, 2026.
Dr Asiama said the Credit Risk Management Directive would complement the Non-Performing Loan Notice issued last year and would strengthen banks' credit-risk frameworks, covering credit origination, administration, monitoring, measurement and recovery. He said the Liquidity Coverage Ratio Directive would introduce the first prudential benchmark for banks' liquidity and require banks to maintain adequate high-quality liquid assets to withstand significant liquidity stress over a 30-day period.
The Governor said the Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to maintain the Monetary Policy Rate at 14.0 per cent, assessing the balance of risks to inflation and growth as broadly balanced. He noted that headline inflation increased modestly to 5.0 per cent in August from 4.6 per cent in July, reflecting the pass-through from utility tariff adjustments and elevated crude oil prices, while core inflation and inflation expectations continued to moderate.
He said real GDP grew by 6.0 percent in the second quarter of 2026, driven mainly by the services and industry sectors, slightly lower than the 6.6 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025 but still reflecting strong underlying economic activity.
On credit conditions, Dr Asiama said the average lending rate of the banking sector declined significantly to 15.9 per cent in August 2026 from 24.2 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025. He said credit to the private sector grew by 35.5 per cent in August 2026 compared with 13.3 per cent a year earlier, while in real terms, credit growth was 29.0 per cent compared with 1.7 per cent over the same period last year.
The Governor said the external sector had continued to provide an important source of resilience, with the trade surplus increasing to US$8.85 billion in the first eight months of 2026 from US$6.69 billion in the corresponding period of 2025. Gross international reserves stood at US$12.0 billion, equivalent to 4.5 months of import cover, as at September 22, 2026, benefiting from improved gold export receipts.
On regulatory matters, Dr Asiama said the Bank was engaging all banks on the results of its macroprudential stress tests, which assess the resilience of the banking sector under severe but plausible economic and financial scenarios. He encouraged banks to take the findings seriously and strengthen identified areas of vulnerability.
He also said the Bank had received concerns from the Ghana Association of Banks regarding the different placements of the fraud function across banks. He urged banks to strengthen their fraud risk management through effective policies and controls, adding that the fraud function should be appropriately positioned with direct and unrestricted access to the Managing Director or Chief Executive Officer to ensure its independence and effectiveness.
On the foreign exchange market, the Governor said the Bank was consolidating the various operational notices and guidelines issued under the Foreign Exchange Act into a comprehensive compendium to provide greater clarity on requirements relating to foreign exchange transactions. He emphasised that compliance with the Bank's foreign exchange requirements remained non-negotiable and that banks must maintain proper documentation, appropriate internal controls and ensure that funds were used strictly for their stated purposes.
Dr Asiama said the Bank was paying increased attention to cyber, technology and fintech-related risks, noting that digitalisation had brought significant benefits but also increased operational and cyber risks. He said the Bank was working with the industry on the implementation of the Cyber and Information Security Directive and would continue to strengthen supervisory expectations around technology, customer-fund safeguarding and third-party risks.
In the fintech space, he said the Bank was developing further guidance on the governance and operational independence of regulated payment service providers within group structures, as well as on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the financial sector. He said the Bank would continue its efforts to address illegal digital credit providers and strengthen collaboration with relevant stakeholders to protect consumers.
The Governor also announced that the Bank had formally launched the National Remittance and Diaspora Savings Strategy, a joint effort with the Ministry of Finance. He said the strategy would be delivered within nine months and move swiftly into full implementation by the first quarter of 2027, with banks expected to play a vital role in its success.
He said the rapid growth of mobile money and digital payments required continual reassessment of the ecosystem, including the effectiveness of partnerships, safeguards and risk-management arrangements, adding that the Bank would soon engage the industry on measures to strengthen the sustainability and resilience of the digital payments ecosystem.