Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has sounded the alarm over the dire financial condition of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), cautioning that they pose significant operational and financial risks to the economy.
Speaking at the National Economic Dialogue, he highlighted the growing fiscal strain these entities are placing on the country.
“SOEs and joint venture companies are showing mounting operational and financial risk. Almost all state-owned enterprises are in the red.
From Electricity Company of Ghana to the Agricultural Development Bank, almost all of them are in the red,” he stated.
Dr. Forson pointed to COCOBOD’s reported profit in 2023 as an example of misleading financial performance, stressing that the institution’s financial standing is far from stable.
“In fact, beginning from the year 2021, 2022, and 2023, you will see that COCOBOD polled some profit of GHS2.2 billion in the year 2023. This is artificial profit.”
He explained that this so-called profit was not a result of efficient operations but rather the consequence of debt suspension, which prevented COCOBOD from servicing its obligations.
“This profit is because they failed to service their debt due to the debt suspension and all the cocoa bills that were due at the time.
“They failed to pay. This debt still exists, and so we will need to take action to restructure most of the State-Owned Enterprises,” he emphasized.
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