Banks’ credit profiles are benefiting from Ghana’s improving creditworthiness, Fitch Ratings has revealed.
This is due to their large holdings of government securities and the stabilisation of economic conditions following the sovereign debt restructuring.
The UK-based firm upgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to ‘B’/Positive from ‘B-’/Stable in May reflected a sharp fall in government debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a marked increase in international reserves.
The positive outlook reflects Fitch’s expectation of continued fiscal prudence and further building of external buffers.
Fitch said the sharp reductions in inflation and interest rates, a more stable exchange rate and strong real GDP growth indicate stabilised economic conditions, adding, “economic spillovers from the Iran conflict are contained”.
Capitalization Recovered from Sovereign Debt
It continued that capitalization has recovered from the sovereign debt restructuring, launched in December 2022, due to extremely strong profitability underpinned by high interest rates.
The banking sector’s total capital adequacy ratio of 20.4% at the end of June 2026 was over double the 10% minimum requirement, and almost all banks comfortably exited regulatory forbearance at end of 2025, which had been introduced due to the sovereign default.
Fitch said the sector’s impaired loans ratio has fallen (end-1H26: 16.1%; end-1H25: 23.1%) on strong credit growth and the improving economic conditions.
“We expect it to reduce further as banks write off loans to meet a 10% prudential impaired loans ratio limit effective from end-2026. Profitability metrics remain strong by regional standards but have been pressured by sharply lower interest rates, which will continue weighing on profitability throughout 2026”.
Fitch upgrades GT Bank, UBA
Fitch upgraded Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Ltd and United Bank for Africa Ghana Ltd Long-Term IDRs to ‘B’/Positive from ‘B-’/Stable.
It also revised their operating environment scores up, following the sovereign upgrade, reflecting the high correlation of their credit profiles with that of Ghana due to their large holdings of government securities.
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