Dr. Johnson Asiama
Consumer spending, proxied by domestic VAT collections and retail sales, posted a mixed performance in November 2025 compared with the corresponding period in 2024, the Bank of Ghana has disclosed in its January 2026 Monetary Policy Report.
Domestic VAT collections increased by 38.2% on a year on-year basis to GH¢2.20 billion, from GH¢1.59 billion.
Cumulatively, total domestic VAT for the first eleven months of 2025 went up by 24.6% to GH¢19.29 billion, compared with GH¢15.48 billion for the corresponding period of last year.
Retail sales declined by 10.5% year-on-year to GH¢284.43 million in November 2025, down from the GH¢317.86 million recorded in the same period in 2024.
Conversely, on a month-on-month basis, retail sales improved by 12.7% in November 2025 from GH¢252.47 million in the preceding month.
In cumulative terms, retail sales for the first eleven months of 2025 went up by 16.3%.
Manufacturing Activities
Manufacturing activities in the manufacturing sub-sector, gauged by trends in the collection of direct taxes and private sector workers’ contributions to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Pension Scheme (Tier-1), improved in July 2025.
Total direct taxes collected increased by 14.8% year-on-year to GH¢5,26 billion in July 2025, relative to GH¢4.58 billion recorded in a similar period in 2024.
Cumulatively, total direct taxes collected for the first seven months of 2025 went up by 26.2% to GH¢47.59 billion from GH¢37.702 billion for the same period in 2024.
In terms of contributions of the various sub-tax categories, income tax (PAYE and self-employed) accounted for 43.0%, corporate tax accounted for 35.8%, while “other tax sources” contributed 21.2%.
Private Sector SSNIT Contributions
Total private sector workers’ contribution to the SSNIT Pension Scheme (Tier-1) increased by 8.6% in year-on year terms to GH¢513.34 million in July 2025, from GH¢472.81 million collected during the corresponding period in 2024.
Cumulatively, for the first seven months of 2025, the contribution grew by 22.6% to GH¢3.48 billion, relative to GH¢2.84 billion recorded in the same period in 2024.
Construction Sector Activities
Activity in the construction sub-sector, proxied by the volume of cement sales, declined by 10.7% year-on-year in July 2025 to 212,735.33 tonnes, down from 238,167.80 tonnes recorded a year ago.
However, on a month-on-month basis, total cement sales increased by 3.1% in July 2025 compared with the 206,282.00 tonnes recorded in June 2025.
Cumulatively, cement sales for the first seven months of 2025 improved by 2.8 percent to 1,644,413.19 tonnes.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com