Banking sector faces fresh risk if cedi starts sliding again – Dr Atuahene
Banking and Corporate Governance Consultant, Dr Richmond Atuahene, has cautioned that Ghana’s improving State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) finances could come under severe pressure if the cedi begins to depreciate again. His warning follows a sharp turnaround in the financial performance of SOEs in 2025. According to the State Interests and Governance Authority’s (SIGA) 2025 State Ownership […]
Ghana's State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have reported a sharp improvement in their financial performance in 2025, with a consolidated net profit after tax of GH¢19.80 billion, after posting a loss of GH¢2.25 billion the previous year. The State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) attributes this turnaround to foreign exchange gains, which reduced SOEs' finance costs by 42.49 per cent and generated net foreign exchange earnings of GH¢11.72 billion.
However, Dr Richmond Atuahene, a banking and corporate governance consultant, cautions that this improvement could be short-lived if the cedi starts to depreciate again. "If you are moved by foreign exchange gains by 60%, then you are not talking about efficiency," he says. The performance of the cedi has helped reduce SOEs' finance costs, but this alone does not indicate operational efficiency.
Atuahene also raises concerns about the scale of debt accumulated by SOEs, which account for over GH¢282 billion of the wider debt burden, with ECG alone responsible for GH¢82.31 billion. He warns that the government must prioritize SOE reforms, particularly under the IMF programme, as underlying problems in these enterprises could pose a wider threat to the economy.
Written by urgent.news from Adom Online's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
