Financial sector assets maintain strong growth momentum despite impairments – Report

The assets of the financial system maintained strong growth momentum in 2023, despite impairments of assets arising from the debt restructuring.

According to the 2024 Financial Stability Review, total financial sector assets grew by 25.30% to reach GH₵390.84 billion in 2023 from GH₵311.93 billion recorded in 2022.

Despite the strong growth, the financial system assets to Gross Domestic Product decreased to 46.44% in 2023 from 51.12% in 2022, reflecting the relatively strong nominal GDP growth in 2023.

Except for the securities sector, the total assets of all other sectors of the financial system increased with the banking, insurance, and pensions sectors growing at 24.13%, 23.42% and 41.62% respectively. According to the report, the strong asset growth reflects the key role of the financial system in mobilising funds to support the macroeconomic recovery process amid limited access to external financing.

Banking sector accounts for 70% of total assets

The banking sector continued to dominate the financial system of Ghana in terms of assets.

It accounted for more than 70.0% of the total financial sector assets even though its share has been stable.

The share of the insurance sector and securities sector to total financial system assets has fairly been stable for the past five years.

The pension sector’s assets to total financial sector assets, on the other hand, increased marginally due to significant growth in the private pension funds over the period.