Lending rates over time
What Ghanaian banks charged to lend, September 2021 to May 2026
Every bank must report to Bank of Ghana what its lending costs once fees are counted. Bank of Ghana’s site shows its latest return; earlier ones survive mainly in web archives, which is where several of these 6 came from. Here they are side by side.
The median one-year cost of a small business loan fell from 25.54% in September 2021 to 20.24% in May 2026. For a corporate borrower it fell from 21.39% to 14.32%.
In September 2021 the gap between them was 4.15 points. By May 2026 it was 5.92 points.
Against inflation in the same month, the median small business rate was 13.51% in real terms in September 2021 and 15.95% in May 2026. So although the headline rate fell, borrowing became dearer in real terms, because inflation fell faster than lending rates did. This uses inflation at the time of each return, a common rough measure — not the inflation a borrower will live through over the loan.
One-year loans, by kind of borrower
Annual percentage rate, fees included, across the banks that reported in each return. Bank of Ghana changed how it works out the APR between the September 2021 and March 2024 returns: in 2021 it is the lending rate plus the listed fees, exactly; from 2024 the fees are counted differently. Compare APRs across the later returns, and treat the change from 2021 as indicative.
| Return | Banks | Lowest | Median | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2021 | 23 | 19.52% | 25.54% | 30.38% |
| March 2024 | 22 | 19.15% | 39.10% | 53.18% |
| September 2024 | 22 | 25.10% | 35.47% | 59.44% |
| March 2025 | 22 | 20.13% | 36.30% | 46.94% |
| June 2025 | 20 | 17.03% | 32.44% | 45.13% |
| May 2026 | 22 | 11.03% | 20.24% | 33.58% |
| Return | Banks | Lowest | Median | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2021 | 23 | 22.50% | 25.69% | 30.27% |
| March 2024 | 22 | 29.07% | 37.83% | 47.78% |
| September 2024 | 22 | 24.82% | 35.38% | 55.98% |
| March 2025 | 21 | 23.80% | 33.95% | 50.80% |
| June 2025 | 21 | 20.22% | 31.28% | 42.24% |
| May 2026 | 21 | 11.62% | 18.90% | 28.13% |
| Return | Banks | Lowest | Median | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2021 | 23 | 15.60% | 21.39% | 26.33% |
| March 2024 | 21 | 32.71% | 35.84% | 42.94% |
| September 2024 | 22 | 28.30% | 35.11% | 44.92% |
| March 2025 | 20 | 26.26% | 34.03% | 44.02% |
| June 2025 | 19 | 23.49% | 29.48% | 37.60% |
| May 2026 | 21 | 7.62% | 14.32% | 24.67% |
Bank by bank: a one-year small business loan
Ordered by the latest return, cheapest first. Banks are named as in Bank of Ghana’s most recent return. A dash means the bank did not report that cell in that return.
| Bank | September 2021 | March 2024 | September 2024 | March 2025 | June 2025 | May 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Chartered Bank (Ghana) Limited | 23.13% | 35.81% | 33.82% | 33.26% | — | 11.03% |
| Ecobank Ghana Limited | 25.54% | 36.49% | 34.82% | 33.28% | 35.02% | 14.51% |
| Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited | 24.22% | 48.47% | 43.49% | 46.01% | 35.97% | 15.17% |
| Absa Bank Ghana Limited | 28.79% | 19.15% | 25.10% | 20.13% | 17.03% | 16.13% |
| CalBank PLC | 30.38% | 35.24% | 33.88% | 34.52% | 27.64% | 16.41% |
| First National Bank (Ghana) Limited | 19.52% | 43.45% | 40.30% | 41.18% | 37.65% | 16.50% |
| First Atlantic Bank Limited | 28.95% | 41.87% | 35.57% | 31.34% | 30.84% | 16.59% |
| Prudential Bank Limited | 25.87% | 37.29% | 35.10% | 41.07% | 32.70% | 18.26% |
| OmniBSIC Bank Ghana Limited | 23.80% | 33.06% | 35.04% | 34.09% | 30.93% | 18.91% |
| Societe General Ghana PLC | 29.50% | — | 38.81% | 38.46% | 31.08% | 19.04% |
| United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Limited | 19.96% | 41.56% | 39.00% | 39.08% | 37.00% | 19.79% |
| Universal Merchant Bank Limited | 21.80% | 40.54% | 32.90% | 33.50% | 25.99% | 20.69% |
| Access Bank Ghana Plc | 22.65% | 40.67% | 35.47% | 31.41% | 31.05% | 20.98% |
| First Bank Ghana Limited | 23.33% | 42.20% | 34.28% | 37.25% | 35.50% | 21.13% |
| Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited | 22.50% | 38.76% | 35.48% | 35.59% | 30.74% | 22.25% |
| Republic Bank (Ghana) PLC | 27.00% | 39.23% | 38.73% | 35.80% | 32.18% | 22.75% |
| Bank of Africa Ghana Limited | 28.47% | 38.97% | 38.27% | 36.79% | 32.95% | 23.42% |
| Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited | 25.72% | 53.18% | 59.44% | 46.94% | 44.54% | 24.79% |
| Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited | 23.61% | 42.03% | 33.38% | 39.63% | 45.13% | 25.44% |
| Agricultural Development Bank Limited | 27.74% | 47.64% | 45.76% | 44.48% | 39.26% | 27.48% |
| GCB Bank Limited | 26.00% | 37.00% | 30.25% | 35.20% | 31.90% | 29.54% |
| Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited | 26.97% | 35.72% | 36.71% | 45.26% | — | 33.58% |
| National Investment Bank Limited | 22.44% | 38.83% | — | — | — | — |
Snapshots, not a monthly series
Bank of Ghana publishes this return monthly and replaces it with the next. These are the months we captured, and the months between them are not shown — which is why the page sets the returns side by side rather than drawing a line through them. The original documents are kept in the archive. Today’s rates, with every bank and term, are on compare business credit.
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About this data
Free to quote · no permission needed
- Source
- Bank of Ghana's Annual Percentage Rate returns
- Covering
- 6 returns, September 2021 to May 2026, every licensed bank that reported
- Last checked
- October 2026
- Method
- Each return read from the Bank of Ghana PDF, most from archived copies. The September 2021 tables are images: read by OCR, with nine rows transcribed by hand, and every row checked against its own arithmetic. Bank of Ghana changed how it works out the APR between the 2021 and 2024 returns. Rates are annual percentage rates as the Bank published them, fees included. A cell a bank did not report is left blank. Medians are across the banks that reported in that return. Real rates use headline inflation in the same month, compounded rather than subtracted.
Cite this
Ghanaian bank lending rates over time, 6 returns, September 2021 to May 2026, every licensed bank that reported. Compiled by Cedafin from Bank of Ghana's Annual Percentage Rate returns. https://cedafin.com/lending-rates (accessed 16 October 2026).
Use any of this without asking. No permission needed, no credit required — the line above is offered because a formatted citation is easier than composing one, not because we ask for it.
Not licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Ghana. We publish factual comparisons of regulated products and do not provide investment advice, hold client money, or execute transactions. Rates are indicative: Bank of Ghana notes that the APR an individual borrower is offered depends on the bank’s assessment of them.