The government of Ghana has concluded a fresh round of bank recapitalisations, with the Ghana Amalgamated Trust completing the full recapitalisation of Universal Merchant Bank, UMB Bank, last week, and Prudential Bank Limited restored to full capital strength through a private sector-led arrangement, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament on Thursday.
Presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review, the minister said UMB and Prudential Bank now stand “fully capitalized and primed for business,” and urged individuals, businesses and institutions to bank with the two revitalised lenders. The move follows the 2025 recapitalisation of the National Investment Bank, the Agricultural Development Bank and the Consolidated Bank Ghana, part of a broader effort to restore confidence and stability in Ghana’s banking sector after the 2022 debt crisis.
The government is separately working to rebuild the Bank of Ghana’s own balance sheet, which was left with a negative net equity position after the 2023 Domestic Debt Exchange Programme substantially weakened the central bank’s capital. The Government and the Bank of Ghana signed a memorandum of understanding on 6th January 2025 to recapitalise the institution over time, and in March 2026 Government issued a GH¢5 billion recapitalisation bond to strengthen its equity base.
Ato Forson said the government will make annual provisions to recapitalise the Bank of Ghana until its equity is fully restored, in line with the Bank of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1158). Alongside this support, the central bank itself will undertake what the minister described as a comprehensive operational efficiency review, aimed at reducing costs and rebuilding long-term financial sustainability.
The recapitalisation drive forms part of a wider financial sector stabilisation effort that also includes the Women’s Development Bank, incorporated as WDB GH LTD in January 2026, with the Government depositing GH¢400 million at the Bank of Ghana as initial licensing capital. The bank is expected to begin full operations before the end of the year.
The interventions signal the government’s intent to underpin the banking sector’s recovery from the aftershocks of the domestic and external debt restructuring, while positioning the financial system to support the private credit growth that lower interest rates are beginning to unlock.
The recapitalisation programme is expected to continue into 2027 as the central bank’s equity position is progressively restored.
