Agricultural finance

Banks' outstanding credit to agriculture, forestry and fishing grew from GH¢542.0 million at the end of 2012 to GH¢2.66 billion in 2022 and GH¢4.81 billion in 2025, about US$460 million¹²³⁴. Agriculture's share of total outstanding credit was 4.2% in 2012, 3.1% in 2021, 4.7% in 2024 and 4.3% in 2025 (own calculations), and the Monetary Policy Report gives 3.1% at the end of August 2026 against 4.3% a year earlier¹⁵³⁶. Services, commerce and finance and construction together held 71.3% of credit in August 2026⁶.

In dollars the stock was between US$243 million and US$402 million at each year-end from 2012 to 2024 and reached US$460 million in 2025, when the cedi strengthened from 14.70 to 10.45 per dollar over the year (own conversions)⁴. The Agricultural Development Bank, 83.52% owned by the Government, held gross loans to agriculture of GH¢1.13 billion at the end of 2025, 29.1% of its gross loans⁷.

The non-performing loan ratio for agriculture was 19.8% in December 2020, 29.0% in December 2021 and 24.3% in December 2022¹⁴¹⁵. It reached 67.0% in February 2024, was 38.0% in December 2024 and 46.3% in December 2025, and rose to 60.9% in August 2026 from 54.2% a year earlier¹⁷¹⁶⁶. The industry ratio fell from 21.79% in 2024 to 18.92% in 2025 and 15.7% in August 2026³¹⁸. No sector ratios were found for years before 2020 or for December 2023.

The Bank of Ghana raised its policy rate from 14.5% in January 2022 to 27.0% in November 2022 and 30.0% in July 2023, and then cut it from the 28.0% set in March 2025 to 14.0% in March 2026, where it remained after the meeting of 23–24 September 2026²⁰²¹. The average lending rate was 35.58% at the end of 2022, 20.45% at the end of 2025 and 15.94% in August 2026, and the 91-day Treasury bill rate was 5.38% in August 2026²²¹⁸. Domestic credit to the private sector fell from 13.3% of GDP in 2022 to 7.9% in 2025²³.

The Government launched a domestic debt exchange on 5 December 2022 and suspended service on Eurobonds, commercial loans and most bilateral debt on 19 December 2022²⁴. Holders tendered GH¢82.99 billion of the GH¢97.75 billion of eligible bonds, 84.91%, and the exchange settled on 21 February 2023²⁵¹². Banks made a loss after tax of GH¢6.6 billion in 2022, and the Bank of Ghana relaxed the minimum capital ratio from 13% to 10% for participating banks²⁶¹². The IMF approved a 36-month Extended Credit Facility of SDR 2.242 billion, about US$3 billion, on 17 May 2023, and the World Bank a US$250 million project to rebuild the capital buffers of affected institutions on 30 May 2024²⁷²⁸.

COCOBOD financed cocoa purchases from 1992/93 with offshore syndicated loans backed by forward sales, which pledged between 70% and 92% of the crop to financiers³⁰³¹. Its reports show loans of US$1.8 billion signed in September 2016, US$1.3 billion for 2017/18 and for 2018/19 and US$1.5 billion for 2021/22, and the 2023 Budget gives US$1.13 billion for 2022/23^32333435. The 2023/24 loan was signed in January 2024, and for 2024/25 COCOBOD adopted a self-financing model in which the Chief Executive expected the industry to fund about 60% of purchases³⁶³⁰. The Group reported a net loss of GH¢2.43 billion for 2020/21, the last year with published accounts, and the IMF put COCOBOD's debt at US$529 million at the end of 2024, excluding the seasonal syndicated loan³⁴²⁹.

For 2026/27 COCOBOD's subsidiary Cocoa Capital PLC is raising up to GH¢16.3 billion through a Domestic Cocoa Notes Programme approved by the SEC, about US$1.45 billion at the Bank of Ghana rate of end-August 2026 (own conversion), with GH¢14 billion of commercial paper for purchases and GH¢2.3 billion of bonds to restructure legacy debt³⁷¹³. At the launch on 14 October 2026 the first issue attracted bids of about GH¢3.59 billion at 11% a year³⁸.

GIRSAL, owned by the Government through the Ministry of Finance, guarantees up to 70% of the principal of agricultural loans for a fee of 1% of the guaranteed value, and reported in July 2026 that it had guaranteed loans worth GH¢1.85 billion over six years for 6,695 agribusinesses through 40 partner institutions, with GH¢604.54 million repaid⁴⁰⁴¹⁴². Development Bank Ghana, launched in June 2022 under the Development Finance Institutions Act, 2020, is supported by a World Bank project of US$250 million⁴³²⁸. Its website sits behind a bot check, so its lending figures are not shown.

The 147 rural and community banks held total assets of GH¢24.55 billion at the end of 2025 in the BoG 2025 Annual Report, about US$2.35 billion (own conversion), while the Statistical Bulletin series gives GH¢24.88 billion³²²⁴. In 2019 the Bank of Ghana revoked the licences of 347 microfinance institutions and 39 microcredit companies, after the number of universal banks fell from 34 to 23 in 2017–2018⁴⁴¹⁰. Lenders can register security interests in movable assets in the Collateral Registry under the Borrowers and Lenders Act, 2020⁴⁵.

Registered mobile money accounts rose from 3.78 million at the end of 2012 to 80.5 million at the end of 2025, of which 26.7 million active in the BoG FinTech statistics (26.6 million in the 2025 Annual Report), and the value of transactions was about GH¢4.5 trillion in 2025⁹⁴⁶³. Global Findex shows 81.2% of adults with an account in 2024, 78.3% with a mobile money account and 76.4% in rural areas⁴⁷⁴⁸. In 2024, 10.1% of adults borrowed from a formal financial institution, 21.9% from a mobile money provider and 50.2% from family or friends⁸. The share of adults paid for agricultural products was 23.6% in 2024⁴⁹. The Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019 regulates electronic money issuers⁵⁰.

Agricultural insurance data could not be verified, because the National Insurance Commission's reports could not be opened, and no figures on premiums or claims are shown⁵¹.