Short answer: borrowing for a business in Ghana has become much cheaper in 2026. The Bank of Ghana cut its policy rate from 28% in mid-2025 to 14% by March 2026 and has held it there, and the average commercial bank lending rate fell from about 24% in August 2025 to 15.94% in August 2026, according to the Bank of Ghana. Small firms still pay more than the average because of risk premiums and fees. Your main routes are bank and savings-and-loans credit, programmes run by the Ghana Enterprises Agency such as SME GO, and longer-term funds from the Development Bank Ghana through partner banks. Expect to show registration, tax clearance, statements and collateral, which can now include movable assets.
GHBL1312Below: how rates have moved, where SMEs can borrow, what lenders ask for, how collateral works and how to prepare.
Interest rates in 2025–2026
| Date | Bank of Ghana policy rate |
|---|---|
| March–May 2025 | 28.0% |
| 30 July 2025 | 25.0% |
| 17 September 2025 | 21.5% |
| 26 November 2025 | 18.0% |
| 28 January 2026 | 15.5% |
| 18 March 2026 onwards (held in May, July and September) | 14.0% |
The Ghana Reference Rate, which banks use as the base for pricing loans, was 10.04% in October 2026. Your actual rate is the reference rate plus a margin that reflects your risk, so a small or new business can pay well above the average. Compare offers on the annual percentage rate including fees.
Where small businesses can borrow
| Source | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Commercial banks | Working capital, overdrafts and equipment loans, mostly against collateral |
| Savings and loans companies and microfinance | Smaller loans, often more flexible on documents, usually more expensive |
| Ghana Enterprises Agency (SME GO, YouStart programmes) | Concessional loans of GHS 150,000 to GHS 2,000,000 at a 10% nominal rate for SMEs with 6 to 100 employees, with a 2-year term and 6 to 12 months' grace; grants of up to GHS 150,000 for small and start-up businesses |
| Development Bank Ghana | Wholesale long-term funds lent through partner banks, allowing tenors of up to 5 to 10 years; partner banks set the final rate |
The SME GO programme runs periodic application windows on the GEA portal in 2026. For personal borrowing instead of business credit, see our guide to personal loans in Ghana.
What lenders ask for
- Business registration with the Office of the Registrar of Companies.
- Ghana Card and Tax Identification Number, plus a tax clearance certificate.
- Three to six months of bank or mobile money statements.
- Financial records, ideally audited, cash flow projections and a business plan.
- Collateral or a guarantee.
Collateral: not only land
Banks have traditionally asked for landed property worth more than the loan, often around 120% of it. Under the Borrowers and Lenders Act, 2020 (Act 1052), businesses can also pledge movable assets such as vehicles, machinery, inventory and receivables, registered with the Bank of Ghana's Collateral Registry. The Act lets registered lenders enforce such collateral without going to court, so treat a pledge seriously. Partial credit guarantees, such as the Development Bank Ghana's guarantee scheme, share the risk with banks and can reduce the collateral you need.
The Bank of Ghana's Monetary Policy Committee kept the policy rate at 14.0% on September 24, 2026, the third consecutive hold. Its new Credit Risk Management Directive, announced October 6, 2026, forces banks to tighten underwriting, cash-flow checks and loan monitoring, so weak applications face longer scrutiny and higher margins. The separate Liquidity Coverage Ratio Directive, the sector's first, takes effect over the same period and requires banks to hold enough high-quality liquid assets to survive a 30-day stress scenario.
The Ghana Reference Rate fell to 10.04% effective October 8, 2026, from 10.61% in August. That cuts interest on floating-rate facilities. As of October 2026, Bank of Ghana APR data shows 1-year SME facilities ranging from 11.03% to 33.58%, while arrangement fees run 0.5%–2.0%, processing 1.0%–2.0% and insurance 1.0%–1.68%. For concessional funding, DBG disbursed about GHS 2.5 billion to roughly 1,000 businesses by August 2026, with loans of GHS 200,000 to GHS 10,000,000 for up to 5–10 years. Check loan application requirements before comparing offers.
How to prepare a strong application
Get your registration, tax clearance and statements in order, keep business and personal money in separate accounts, and prepare a simple cash flow forecast that shows how the loan will be repaid. Ask your bank whether it is a Development Bank Ghana partner, check whether an SME GO window is open, and compare the total cost of each offer before you sign.
With banks tightening underwriting and the reference rate down, your best move now is to request the APR, not the nominal rate, in writing and compare it with the new base. Confirm whether your existing facility is floating-rate to benefit from the October 2026 cut. If you are applying, prepare audited accounts and a cash-flow forecast showing monthly repayment capacity, because the new credit risk rules require banks to verify this. Ask whether your lender participates in DBG or GEA concessional windows before accepting a commercial offer. Avoid using short-term overdrafts to buy machinery, and treat any registered movable collateral pledge as a serious legal commitment.