The government has announced a significant turnaround in the fortunes of the National Investment Bank (NIB), following a successful recapitalisation and restructuring effort that is being touted as a key pillar of its financial sector reform agenda.
Delivering the 2025 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review in Parliament, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson disclosed that after years of financial deterioration, the NIB has now returned to solvency. “We have successfully recapitalised the National Investment Bank (NIB) by implementing an ambitious and credible plan to return the bank to profitability and sustainability,” he stated.
According to Dr. Forson, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio, which stood at a deeply negative 53.13 percent at the end of 2024, has been transformed into a positive 23 percent by May 2025. This turnaround was achieved through a combination of cash injection, bond issuance, and equity transfers. The government injected GH¢450 million in cash, issued marketable bonds worth GH¢1.5 billion to NIB, and transferred its GH¢500 million equity stake in Nestle Ghana Limited to the bank.
The Finance Minister said these actions have preserved deposits worth GH¢6.4 billion, saved over 900 jobs, and protected the existence of an indigenous Ghanaian financial institution. “Unlike the previous administration, we chose to spend to save a bank rather than spend to collapse a bank,” he asserted.
To build on this recovery, the government has developed a comprehensive restructuring plan for the bank. The strategy aims to strengthen corporate governance, enhance risk management, and institute a modern business model to ensure long-term sustainability. Dr. Forson told Parliament that the plan also seeks to improve financial performance, revamp the operational strategy, and eventually list NIB on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
The recapitalisation of NIB is part of a broader effort by the Mahama-led administration to stabilise and grow Ghana’s financial system, which he said was left in disarray despite the previous administration spending over GH¢30 billion on a financial sector clean-up exercise. “After all that expenditure, NIB was still in dire straits. That should never have happened,” Dr. Forson noted.
In a strong show of confidence, he declared that NIB is now liquid, safe, and fully capitalised, and encouraged the Ghanaian public to do business with the bank. “NIB is back,” he said emphatically.
The Finance Minister also noted that credit to the private sector has increased by 31.3 percent as of June 2025. He said monetary indicators point to a healthy expansion of credit supported by increased deposits and improved net foreign assets. Net domestic asset growth has slowed, indicating a shift in liquidity drivers towards external inflows—a development he described as healthy for the economy.
This recovery in the financial sector, he said, is underpinned by fiscal discipline, investor confidence, and an improving macroeconomic environment. “We have restored coordination between the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana. Our economic policy direction is once again cohesive and integrated,” he emphasized.
The government has also committed to reopening the domestic bond market to finance the budget deficit and announced the selection of new bookrunners starting August 2025.
According to Dr. Forson, this move will lower borrowing costs and create a more competitive primary market.
With NIB now holding paid-up capital of GH¢3.4 billion and enjoying restored public trust, the government sees the bank as a central player in its effort to promote indigenous banking and expand access to credit for productive sectors of the economy.
