Banking and Corporate Governance Consultant, Dr Richmond Atuahene, has cautioned against celebrating the latest profit figures of Ghana’s State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) without examining whether the gains reflect genuine operational efficiency.

According to him, the reported improvement in SOE finances must be backed by sustainable changes in how the entities operate.

“My comment is that we need to sit down as a country and begin to take a critical look of the SOEs and look at the strategic and the non-strategic that we can get out of the way,” he said on Joy News’ PM Express on Wednesday.

His comments come after the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) reported a major turnaround in the financial performance of SOEs.

The 2025 State Ownership Report showed that SOEs recorded a consolidated net profit after tax of GH¢19.8 billion in 2025, compared with a net loss of GH¢2.25 billion in 2024.

The sector’s revenue also increased by 28.12% from GH¢137.64 billion to GH¢176.43 billion, while profit before interest and tax rose to GH¢25.49 billion.

SIGA attributed the improvement partly to stronger performances in agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure, as well as improved foreign exchange earnings and a 42.49% reduction in finance costs.

But Dr Atuahene believes the figures should not, on their own, be taken as evidence that the SOE sector has become more efficient.

He questioned whether the reported profits were being driven by fundamental improvements in operations.

“So for me, the profit may look good or people can say it, but is it driven by operational efficiency? Absolutely not,” he said.

He argued that Ghana must confront the structural problems within the SOE sector rather than repeatedly celebrating short-term improvements.

“And if you are not driven by operational efficiency, you can’t continue like that,” he stressed.

The consultant said the issue requires a broader national conversation about which state-owned entities remain strategically important and which could be removed from government ownership.

“Last year, we sat here last year, I think myself, Professor Bokpin, and we discussed it, and just about a year, we are discussing the same thing. It becomes something that you look at it, and you get worried.”

The latest SIGA report itself shows that the profit turnaround has not eliminated vulnerabilities across the state enterprise sector.

It found that some SOEs continued to record persistent losses, while only a limited number of entities paid dividends to government despite the sector-wide return to profitability.

For Dr Atuahene, the recurrence of the same concerns points to the need for deeper reforms rather than reliance on headline financial figures.

“We are discussing the same thing. It becomes something that you look at it and you get worried.”