SOEs Revenue Hits GHS133.7bn Despite Mounting Losses – Report
By Praisebell Rosemond Larbi
State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) posted strong revenue growth in the 2024 financial year, with total earnings reaching GHS133.68 billion, representing a 28.3 percent increase from the GHS104.19 billion recorded in 2023.
According to the 2024 State Ownership Report, the robust performance was largely driven by the Energy sub-sector, which recorded growth of 38.98 percent, and Financial & Allied Services, which expanded by 49.52 percent.
Operationally, the SOE sector showed marked improvement, with profit before interest and tax (PBIT) rising sharply to GHS1.57 billion in 2024, compared with GHS376.93 million in 2023 and a loss of GHS9.62 billion in 2022.
However, despite the operational turnaround, rising finance costs severely eroded the bottom line. The sector ended the year with a net loss of GHS9.67 billion, wider than the GHS7.14 billion recorded in 2023. The report highlighted that excessive finance charges, amounting to GHS9.39 billion, wiped out all operational gains.
On the balance sheet, total SOE assets grew by 22.52 percent to GHS395.20 billion, with major contributions from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Volta River Authority (VRA), and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). Liabilities, however, increased at a faster rate of 24.20 percent, climbing to GHS281.94 billion. The ECG alone accounted for GHS71 billion of the liabilities.
Despite ongoing losses from entities such as Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company, Ghana National Procurement Agency (GNPA), Ghana Water Company Limited, Graphic Communications Group, and Tema Oil Refinery, a group of nine SOEs including the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Bui Power Authority (BPA), Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC), and Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) maintained consistent profitability over the past five years.
In a notable development, three SOEs Ghana Reinsurance Company, TDC Company, and State Housing Company—paid a combined dividend of GHS29.36 million to government in 2024, marking a 78.9 percent increase from the previous year. The dividend payout was particularly historic for the State Housing Company, which returned profits to government for the first time in three decades.
