The S&P Global Ghana Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) recorded 50.1 in November, a drop from 50.3 recorded in October, showing that the business conditions in the country remain stable.
According to S&P Global, November 2025 experienced new orders, employment, while purchasing continued to rise. However, output remained broadly unchanged. As inflation pressures reduce for the private sector, input costs declined for the first time in three months, and output charges of companies reduced.
The marginal decline still leaves the index just above the 50.0 threshold, indicating an expansion in the private sector activities and continued growth and stability.
November’s stability, which was a buildup on October’s, recorded increased activities in some firms as a result of admitting higher new orders with fairly stable prices. Other firms, on the other hand, reduced their output because customer demand was weak in November.
In November, the pace at which new orders expanded decelerated to only a marginal increase; nevertheless, new business has consistently grown for ten consecutive months, a trend reportedly bolstered by stable prices that helped companies obtain more orders.
Output prices fell for the seventh month in a row in November due to a slight drop in input costs in the last three months. The appreciation of the Cedi against the United States dollar pushed the overall input costs to decline. Costs associated with employees rose sharply in November than the rise in the months before, signifying employment increase.
Impact on Consumers and Businesses
Companies recorded an increase in employment in November, continuing the trend of increased employment by companies in each of the months of 2025. Expansion in businesses required additional capacity, and this helped them manage the workload. As a result, backlogs have reduced substantially in November more than in the past three months.
November also recorded firms boosting their buying at a steady clip as customer demands increase. Firms have also built inventories due to the prospect of further increases in new orders in the coming months. Firms have built inventory for fourteen months in a row.
With the increase in input demand by companies, competition among vendors has increased, shortening delivery time. This suggests spare capacity in supply chains that could support future growth if demand conditions strengthen.
“The recent period of relative price stability continued into November, and was the main factor helping firms to secure greater volumes of new orders again during the month. In turn, employment and purchasing activity also increased.”
Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence
According to Harker, “companies are yet to see the full benefit of muted price pressures on business activity, but with the Bank of Ghana cutting interest rates again in November, we will hopefully start to see some meaningful expansion of private sector output in the near future.”
The Bank of Ghana has reduced the policy rate by 350 basis points to 18 percent in November. Businesses are confident that this significant move, alongside continued disinflation, will make more impact in the months to come.
Business Confidence Amid Challenges
The S&P Global’s November PMI shows a consistent, stable business environment for the private sector in Ghana this year. Ghana’s PMI dropped to 49.8 in September but rose to 50.3 in October, and left November almost on the line.
Price stability and reduced selling price for seven months in a row increased new orders but did not translate into demand growth. Companies responded by building more inventories in anticipation of future better demand conditions ahead.
The main challenge of companies is their failure to translate the new orders into increased outputs. According to the S&P Global survey, other challenges include “difficulty in sourcing materials, exchange rate fluctuations in previous months, and cautious business sentiment as factors affecting their ability to expand production even as new business continues to grow.”
Continuous increase in costs related to workers offset the impact of the appreciation of the Cedi and disinflation on reduced input costs. These cost-side challenges led to “modest reductions in selling prices, suggesting that firms are maintaining margins while passing through some cost savings to customers.”
As prices continue to stabilize, policy rate continues to ease, and new orders grow, private sector output will likely grow. The growth will also depend on future demand conditions, which will push firms to produce more and expand their capacity.
The shortened delivery time suggests input suppliers have available capacity to grow if demand grows. Policymakers at all levels will now have to innovate to reflect the stable economic conditions in job creation and economic growth.
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