The 2025 State Ownership Report deserves credit for expanding public disclosure. It covers 162 of 175 entities and includes a record 108 audited financial statements. That is meaningful progress, because transparency in the management of public assets should never be reduced to a partisan issue.

The more difficult question is whether the report supports the claim that Ghana's State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) achieved a genuine operational turnaround in 2025. The headline numbers appear impressive: a reported profit of GH¢19.80 billion, compared with a loss of GH¢2.26 billion in 2024.

Yet a closer reading suggests that the improvement was driven principally by foreign-exchange movements and a small number of entities, rather than broad-based gains in productivity, management quality or financial resilience.

The exchange rate explains more than the entire turnaround

The report records net foreign-exchange gains of GH¢11,715.35 million in 2025, following a net foreign-exchange loss of GH¢12,013.09 million in 2024. That represents a positive swing of approximately GH¢23.73 billion.

By comparison, the movement from the 2024 loss to the 2025 profit was GH¢22.06 billion. In other words, the currency effect was larger than the whole reported turnaround.

SIGA itself acknowledges the risk, cautioning that the significant reliance on foreign-exchange gains, particularly by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), must be considered when assessing the quality and sustainability of the sub-sector's recovery.

This distinction matters: an accounting gain caused by currency appreciation is not the same as an operational gain produced by stronger governance, higher efficiency or better commercial performance.

Flagship recoveries weaken once currency gains are removed

TOR's first reported profit in almost a decade was GH¢1,093.06 million. However, it recorded a foreign-exchange gain of GH¢1,380.38 million - equivalent to 126 per cent of that profit. Ghana Water reported a profit of GH¢635.23 million alongside a foreign-exchange gain of GH¢2,049.71 million. Both entities would have remained loss-making without the currency movement.

ECG provides an even sharper warning. It still posted a loss of GH¢2,521.19 million despite booking a foreign-exchange gain of GH¢12,157.79 million. These figures do not diminish the importance of a stable currency. They simply show why currency effects should be separated from underlying operating results when public-sector performance is assessed.

The improvement was not broad-based. Only 34 of the 53 SOEs were profitable in 2025, compared with 35 in 2024.

Nineteen remained loss-making. Five entities - ECG, Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing, Graphic Communications, Ghana Digital Centre and GNPA - recorded losses in each of the last five years.

The report consequently describes the improvement as being driven by the scale of earnings among better-performing entities, rather than by an increase in the number of profitable SOEs.

A genuine turnaround should reach beyond a few large balance sheets. It should be visible in the number of viable enterprises, the reliability of service delivery, cost recovery, debt management and the ability of entities to generate sustainable returns without depending on favourable external movements.

Five entities carry almost the entire result

COCOBOD, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, the Ghana Education Trust Fund, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and TOR together account for 89.2 per cent of reported profit.

COCOBOD alone contributes 49.1 percent of the turnaround, supported by an 88.4 percent increase in world cocoa prices.

GETFund contributes GH¢4,128.08 million, or 20.9 per cent of the sector's profit. Yet GH¢9,797.34 million of its GH¢9,798.57 million revenue came from parliamentary allocation.

A statutory fund closing the year with a positive balance is not equivalent to a commercial enterprise earning a return. Combining these different outcomes in a single headline can obscure more than it reveals.

Record profit produced almost no dividend for the State

The State received GH¢1.746 billion in total dividends in 2025, but SOEs contributed only GH¢16 million - 0.92 per cent of the total and paid by just two of the 53 entities. This was down from GH¢29.36 million in 2024. Put differently, the State received roughly eight pesewas in dividends for every GH¢100 of reported SOE profit. Meanwhile, 95.67 per cent of all dividends came from mining companies in which the State is a minority shareholder.

This disconnect raises a basic ownership question. If public enterprises report substantial profits but contribute almost nothing to the shareholder - the Ghanaian taxpayer - the policy framework governing retained earnings, recapitalisation and dividends requires urgent clarification.

Profit rose, but net worth fell

Total SOE assets declined by 5.86 per cent to GH¢407,848.64 million, while total equity fell by 9.16 per cent to GH¢125,852.24 million. Thus, a sector reporting GH¢19.80 billion in profit ended the year with net worth about GH¢12.69 billion lower.

The structural indicators also remained weak. The sector's current ratio was 0.8:1, as it has been every year since 2021, and has not once exceeded 1.0 during that period. The debt-to-asset ratio remained at 0.7 for the fifth consecutive year. The reported result changed, but the underlying structure did not.

The wider state portfolio deteriorated sharply

The 73 Other State Entities recorded a deficit of GH¢10,477.78 million in 2025, compared with GH¢2,404.21 million in 2024. They closed the year with negative equity of GH¢41,143.34 million: liabilities of GH¢382,745.68 million against assets of GH¢341,602.34 million. Any balanced assessment of the public-enterprise portfolio must account for this marked deterioration alongside the gains reported by the SOE sub-sector.

What should happen next

Four reforms would make future assessments more credible. First, SIGA should publish profit before and after foreign-exchange gains for every entity and sub-sector. This would allow citizens and policymakers to distinguish operational performance from currency effects.

Second, Ghana needs a transparent dividend policy for state enterprises. Fifty-three SOEs reported GH¢19.80 billion in profit but paid only GH¢16 million to the State, compared with GH¢395 million in 2017. The treatment of profits, losses, retained earnings and recapitalisation should be governed by clear and enforceable rules.

Third, the authorities should explain the GH¢12.69 billion fall in SOE net worth during a year of record reported profit and publish a recovery plan for the GH¢41.14 billion negative equity among Other State Entities.

Finally, statutory filing requirements must be enforced. Only 61 of the 162 entities filed audited accounts by the 30 April deadline, while three - including the Minerals Commission and the Lands Commission - did not file at all. Timely reporting is a basic condition of accountability, not an administrative courtesy.

The test is sustainable performance

A stronger cedi can ease the burden of foreign-currency liabilities and improve reported results. That is welcome. But a foreign-exchange gain cannot, by itself, finance better services, settle persistent obligations or reward the public shareholder. The decisive test is whether state enterprises can cover their costs, improve service delivery, manage debt and pay a reasonable dividend on a sustainable basis.

On the evidence contained in the 2025 State Ownership Report, Ghana benefited from a more favourable exchange-rate effect. It has not yet been shown that the country has better-performing state enterprises.

Source note: All figures cited are drawn from the 2025 State Ownership Report.