Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has challenged the State Interests and Governance Authority’s (SIGA) reported GH¢19.8 billion net profit for Ghana’s state-owned enterprises in 2025, raising questions about the role of foreign-exchange gains and inconsistencies in historical figures used to measure the sector’s performance. SIGA’s 2025 State Ownership Report presented the result as a major turnaround for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which recorded a combined GH¢2.26 billion net loss in 2024. The report showed that total SOE revenue increased from approximately GH¢137.64 billion in 2024 to GH¢176.43 billion in 2025, representing growth of about 28.1%. However, Simons has disputed the broader interpretation of those figures, arguing that the headline profit does not necessarily reflect an equivalent improvement in the underlying operations of state-owned companies. Simons questions the turnaround In a detailed assessment of the report, Simons said his analysis of SIGA’s figures showed that foreign-exchange movements played a significant role in the reported turnaround. He argued that when currency revaluation effects are removed, the financial picture changes considerably. According to calculations presented by Simons, adjusted net profit fell from about GH¢9.75 billion in 2024 to GH¢8.08 billion in 2025, which he said represented a decline of approximately 17.1%. He further claimed that operating profit fell by about 22.7%, while operating margins narrowed during the period. Those figures represent Simons’ analysis of the underlying data and should be distinguished from SIGA’s official consolidated financial results. SIGA officially reports that the SOE sector recorded GH¢19.8 billion in net profit after tax in 2025. 1. We were all there when SIGA, an agency that regulates state-owned or controlled businesses and parastatals, came and told us that state-controlled businesses have made incredible profits in 2025.2. This was presented as a massive turnaround after years of losses.3. Someone… pic.twitter.com/oh3bgtxmrF— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) August 31, 2026 ECG exchange-rate gains draw attention The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) features prominently in Simons’ criticism. According to his analysis, ECG moved from approximately GH¢8.84 billion in foreign-exchange losses in 2024 to about GH¢12.16 billion in exchange gains in 2025. That represents a swing of nearly GH¢21 billion. Simons argues that the movement accounted for a substantial portion of the overall change in profitability recorded across the state-owned sector. The distinction is important because foreign-exchange gains can increase a company’s reported accounting profit without necessarily representing additional income generated from its normal business activities. For ECG, that would mean separating improvements resulting from exchange-rate movements from those generated through electricity sales, cost reductions, improved collections or other operational changes. Historical SIGA figures also questioned Simons has also raised concerns about what he described as inconsistencies in figures published across different editions of SIGA’s State Ownership Reports. One example involves the reported net loss of SOEs for 2023. According to Simons’ comparison, the figure has appeared differently in successive reports, including approximately GH¢2.57 billion, GH¢7.14 billion and GH¢6.82 billion. He also questioned historical figures covering revenue, liabilities and operating costs. Simons said the variations make it difficult to conduct reliable year-to-year comparisons of state-owned companies. At this stage, however, the discrepancies highlighted by Simons should be treated as claims requiring reconciliation by SIGA, rather than established evidence that the authority deliberately misreported financial information. Historical figures can sometimes change because of accounting restatements, changes in reporting methodology or adjustments to the companies included in consolidated accounts. An explanation from SIGA would therefore be required to establish what caused the differences. Questions over percentage used to describe turnaround Simons has also questioned reports describing the movement from a GH¢2.26 billion loss in 2024 to a GH¢19.8 billion profit in 2025 as a 976% improvement. The criticism centres on the difficulty of using a conventional percentage-growth calculation when the starting figure is negative. The change can more clearly be expressed as a movement from a GH¢2.26 billion loss to a GH¢19.8 billion profit, representing an improvement of roughly GH¢22.06 billion in nominal terms. That avoids giving readers a percentage that may be mathematically difficult to interpret. SIGA figures still show major revenue growth Despite the questions surrounding the profit figure, SIGA’s report contains other indicators pointing to improved financial performance within parts of the state-owned sector. SOE revenue rose by more than GH¢38 billion between 2024 and 2025, according to the report. SIGA also reported improvements across several sectors and a decline in finance costs. The dispute, therefore, is not simply over whether SOEs recorded a profit under the accounting framework used in the report. Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today Post navigation No Thanks: Ghana Declines MTN’s GH¢20m Offer
