The S&P Global Ghana Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.8 in October 2026 from 51.3 in September, slipping just below the 50.0 no-change mark and ending two months of improvement in private-sector conditions, according to the S&P Global release published on 4 November.
The main drag was new orders, which were unchanged after two months of growth. Some firms won business through marketing and customer recommendations, but others reported weaker purchasing power among clients, S&P Global said.
Business activity still rose for the third month in a row as companies worked through earlier orders, although growth was modest and softer than in September. Gains were centred on manufacturing and construction, and firms cut their backlogs of work for the seventh successive month.
Employment increased for the 21st consecutive month, the weakest rise since February. Purchasing rose marginally for a third month, while stocks of inputs fell for the first time in three months.
Price pressures picked up. Higher fuel prices pushed purchase costs up noticeably, but competition meant firms raised their own selling prices only slightly.
"While the recent spell of new order growth came to an end in October, this will hopefully just be a temporary blip," said Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence. He added that the PMI prices data "suggests that the Bank of Ghana will leave interest rates unchanged at their upcoming monetary policy meeting".
The September reading of 51.3 had been up from 50.8 in August and was the strongest improvement since March, according to S&P Global's September release. October data were collected from 12 to 28 October from a panel of around 400 private-sector companies.
A reading above 50.0 signals improvement on the previous month and below 50.0 signals deterioration.
Sources: S&P Global Ghana PMI, October 2026; S&P Global Ghana PMI, September 2026; Business & Financial Times.