Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), Professor Michael Kpessa-Whyte, has acknowledged that foreign exchange gains played a significant role in the reported GH¢19.8 billion combined net profit recorded by Ghana’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in 2025.
The disclosure comes after SIGA’s 2025 State Ownership Report revealed a dramatic turnaround in the financial performance of SOEs, with the entities moving from a combined net loss of GH¢2.26 billion in 2024 to a reported net profit of GH¢19.8 billion in 2025.
The sharp improvement generated interest in the factors behind the performance, particularly the extent to which the appreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi against major international currencies contributed to the reported figures.
Speaking in an interview with Joy News on Sunday, September 6, Prof. Kpessa-Whyte defended the report while acknowledging that the strength of the Cedi was a major factor behind the improved financial performance.
He intimated that SIGA had made extensive disclosures in the report about the impact of foreign exchange movements on the performance of the state-owned enterprises.
“In the report, SIGA made copious disclosures; in fact, in the foreword to the report that I signed, in three different places within the report, I had indicated that the performances we have seen have been significantly shaped by improvements in the forex. In three different areas within that short foreword!
“I think that Ghanaians would be better informed if we all took an interest in reading the report. It is true that forex was a significant part of it. But to say that forex alone provides the overall explanation is not necessarily the case…To be blunt, forex was a big part of it. More than 50 percent of the profit margins were shaped largely by forex.”
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