By Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
Private Legal Practitioner, Noah Adamtey Esq., has questioned the celebration of declared surpluses by some State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), insisting that surpluses on the books must be benchmarked against actual output and efficiency.
Speaking on the recent turnaround of Ghana’s SOEs during a panel discussion on Current Agenda, Mr. Adamtey said the mere presence of a surplus in financial statements is not sufficient evidence of good corporate governance or value for money.
“The mere fact that a company or corporation has a surplus on its books cannot be celebrated if we cannot measure its output against the surplus it claims to have achieved,” he stated.
According to him, for many years, several SOEs operated at a loss, consistently spending beyond their approved budgets and relying on government bailouts to survive, a trend that placed a heavy burden on the taxpayer.
“For a very long time, some of these entities had not made any profit; they were spending beyond the amounts allocated to them,” he said.
Mr. Adamtey called for a rigorous benchmarking system to evaluate the performance of leadership and to clearly identify non-performing enterprises that continue to drain public resources.
“We need to benchmark leaders to identify non-performing enterprises,” he stressed, adding that accountability must go beyond financial figures to include service delivery, innovation, job creation and contribution to national development.
His comments come on the back of the 2025 State Ownership Report released by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) on August 30, 2026.
According to SIGA, Ghana’s State-Owned Enterprises recorded a consolidated net profit after tax of GH¢19.80 billion in the 2025 financial year, reversing four consecutive years of net losses, including a GH¢2.25 billion loss in 2024.
Total SOE revenue increased by 28.12 per cent from GH¢137.64 billion to GH¢176.43 billion, with profit before interest and tax rising to GH¢25.49 billion.
SIGA said the turnaround was driven by growth in agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure, improved foreign exchange earnings and a 42.49 per cent reduction in finance costs.
The stronger cedi, which appreciated from about GH¢14.7 to GH¢10.45 per US dollar, also contributed significantly, with SOEs recording GH¢11.72 billion in net foreign exchange earnings compared to a GH¢12.01 billion loss in 2024.
The report, which is the 10th edition of Ghana’s assessment of specified entities and the 5th published by SIGA since its establishment in 2019, covered 162 out of 175 approved entities comprising 53 SOEs, 36 Joint Venture Companies and 73 Other State Entities.
Despite the headline profit, SIGA itself cautioned that some of the improvements were influenced by favourable foreign-exchange movements, grants and other non-recurring factors, raising questions about long-term sustainability.
The report also noted persistent weaknesses. Five SOEs, including the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company, GNPA, Graphic Communications Group and Ghana Digital Centre, recorded losses every year from 2021 to 2025, while six entities maintained negative equity.
Dividend payments to government also declined by 29.36 per cent, with only Ghana Reinsurance Company and TDC Company paying a combined GH¢16 million.
Mr. Adamtey said this underscores his point that government must look beyond declared profits and conduct deeper forensic assessments of operational efficiency, cost management and leadership effectiveness if SOEs are to become true catalysts for economic growth.
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