By Adnan Adams Mohammed
Ghana’s State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have engineered a remarkable financial turnaround, ending four consecutive years of hemorrhaging losses to secure a consolidated net profit after tax of GH¢19.80 billion for the 2025 financial year.
Consequently, the impressive rebound is being threatened by deep structural debt, headlined by a staggering GH¢82.31 billion liability burden at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
According to the State Interests and Governance Authority’s (SIGA) 2025 State Ownership Report, released on Sunday, August 30, 2026, the sector recorded a massive surge in total revenues, which jumped 28.12 per cent from GH¢137.64 billion in 2024 to GH¢176.43 billion in 2025. This momentum contrasts sharply with the GH¢2.25 billion net loss posted in 2024 and signals the end of a protracted period of fiscal distress.
The report, the tenth flagship evaluation of Ghana’s specified entities and the fifth under SIGA, assessed 162 out of 175 state-affiliated institutions, including 53 SOEs, 36 joint venture companies, and 73 other state entities. Speaking on the publication of the report, SIGA Director-General Prof. Michael Kpessa-Whyte highlighted the significance of the results as a benchmark for national economic policy.
“This edition is significant because it documents the performance of specified entities for the first year of President Mahama’s second administration,” Prof. Kpessa-Whyte stated. “It gives a full picture of how these specified entities are contributing to the broader economic reset agenda, and it will help drive meaningful dialogue around the future of our State-Owned Enterprises, Joint Venture Companies and Other State Entities, ensuring they fulfill their potential as catalysts for economic growth and development.”
Macroeconomic Factors and Sector Leaders
The overall recovery was heavily anchored by strong performances in agriculture, manufacturing, and infrastructure sub-sectors, which expanded by 203.71 per cent, 114.74 per cent, and 92.24 per cent, respectively. Macroeconomic stability, driven by the appreciation of the Ghanaian cedi, falling lending rates, and a reduction in finance costs by 42.49 per cent, helped generate net foreign-exchange gains of GH¢11.72 billion across the sector, reversing a foreign-exchange loss of GH¢12.01 billion from the previous year.
A core group of ten SOEs maintained profitability consistently over the five-year evaluation period (2021–2025). These standout performers include the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Bui Power Authority, Ghana National Gas Company, BOST Energies Company, Minerals Income Investment Fund, and TDC Company Limited.
Joint venture operations also saw solid growth, posting an increase in net profit (excluding minority interest) of 36.55 per cent to hit GH¢3.14 billion. Minority-interest joint ventures contributed GH¢1.19 billion in dividends to state coffers, representing over 97 per cent of total dividends received.
The ECG Bottleneck and Structural Risks
Despite the historic macro-level rebound, SIGA cautioned that concentrated financial distress in key entities poses an ongoing threat to fiscal stability.
Total SOE liabilities stood at GH¢281.99 billion at the close of 2025, with ECG alone accounting for GH¢82.31 billion—nearly 30 per cent of the sector’s total liabilities. ECG was also cited alongside the Volta River Authority and COCOBOD as a primary contributor to a 5.86 per cent contraction in total SOE assets, which dipped to GH¢407.84 billion.
The governance authority flagged five entities that recorded losses in every single financial year from 2021 to 2025: ECG, Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company Limited, GNPA Limited, Graphic Communications Group Company, and Ghana Digital Centres Limited. Furthermore, six companies, including AirtelTigo Ghana Limited, GIHOC Distilleries, and Tema Oil Refinery, operated with persistent negative equity across the same period.
In another major revelation, SIGA confirmed it has formally recommended the liquidation of the Ghana Railway Company Limited following severe financial, operational, and labor distress, advising that affected staff be absorbed into the Ghana Railway Development Authority.
Warning against complacency, SIGA’s official assessment stressed that structural weaknesses must be systematically dismantled to protect taxpayer value.
“The gains of FY2025 must not become a temporary rebound,” the SIGA report emphasized. “They must become the foundation for a more efficient, competitive, inclusive and sustainable State-owned sector that creates value for the Ghanaian taxpayer and contributes meaningfully to national development.”
