Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister
STATE-OWNED Enterprises (SOEs) in Ghana posted combined revenues of GH¢28,565.34 million for the 2019 financial year, representing an increase of 18.60 percent (GH¢4,479.90 million) over the 2018 financial year performance (GH¢24,085.44 million).
Similarly, Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) recorded GH¢6,738.80 million, a 17.37% rise in revenue from GH¢38,787.70 million in the 2018 financial year to GH¢45,526.50 million in the 2019.
The 2019 State Ownership Report, which revealed these figures, said the aggregate direct cost of SOEs in the 2019 financial year amounted to GH¢20,944.39 million, representing 19.05% increase (GH¢3,351.91 million) over the 2018 financial year outturn of GH¢17,592.48 million.
All sectors, except manufacturing, recorded a gross profit of GH¢6,349.43 million for the 2019 financial year, presenting 29.11% (GH¢1,431.46 million) improvement over the 2018 performance of GH¢4,917.97 million, the report stated.
It indicated thatin spite of this impressive gross profit performance, the SOEs reported operating and net losses of GH¢1,375.33 million and GH¢586.49 million respectively due to high and increasing operating expenses (OPEX).
The report said the SOEs recorded a 21.97 percent (GH¢2,042.86 million) increase in operating expenses from GH¢9,298.31 million in the 2018 financial year to GH¢11,341.17 million in the 2019 financial year.
The report noted that net loss outturn of SOEs was moderated by net valuation gains totaling GH¢2,993.67 million reported by Ghana Re, ECG, VRA, and CMC.
“JVCs reported a 31.75 percent (GH¢2,461.69 million) increase in OPEX, rising from GH¢7,753.81 million in FY2018 to GH¢10,215.50 million in FY2019. The implication of this increase was a 65.83 percent (GH¢6,934.40 million) decline from gross profit of GH¢10,533.48 million to operating profit of GH¢3,599.08 million in FY2019.”
The report pointed out that the JVCs’ profitability deteriorated further to net loss of GH¢2,341.37 million in the 2019 on account of significant losses recorded by the mining (GH¢1,799.85 million) and communications (GH¢1,415.19 million) sectors.
In the 2019 financial year, the report said the SOEs total assets amounted to GH¢137,821.67 million, which indicates an increase of 14.45% (GH¢17,399.79 million) over the 2018 financial year outturn of GH¢ 120,421.88 million.
There was a 21.97% (GH¢14,902.96 million) increase in total liabilities from GH¢67,845.92 million in 2018 financial year to GH¢82,748.78 million in 2019 financial year.
The report said, notwithstanding the increase in liabilities, the SOEs net worth increased by 4.75% (GH¢2,496.83 million) from GH¢52,576.06 million in 2018 financial to GH¢55,072.90 million in 2019 financial year.
On the other hand, the Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) reported total assets of GH¢80,220.35 million in 2019 financial year, indicating a 16.10 percent (GH¢11,124.20 million) improvement over the 2018 financial year position of GH¢69,096.14 million.
There was also a9.43% (GH¢5,336.89 million) increase in total liabilities of JVCs from GH¢56,602.71 million in 2018 financial year to GH¢61,939.60 million in 2019financial year.
“The net worth of JVCs at the end of2019 financial year stood at GH¢18,280.75 million. SOEs total current assets in the 2019 financial year (GH¢39,690.88 million) represents an increase of 25.92% (GH¢8,171.33 million) in comparison to the 2018 financial year position of GH¢31,519.55 million.”
SOEs’ current liabilities increased from GH¢33,181.40 million in 2018 to GH¢45,209.39 million in 2019, indicating an increase of 36.25% (GH¢12,027.99 million), the report intimated.
The JVCs current assets and liabilities in FY2019 amounted to GH¢30,301.68 million and GH¢40,790.10 million respectively.
“These outturns represent increases of 33.04% (GH¢7,525.62 million) and 20.53% (GH¢6,949.05 million) over the 2018 financial year positions of GH¢22,776.06 million and GH¢33,841.05 million respectively.”
Assets Vrs Liabilities
The report said a comparison of the current assets and liabilities of SOEs and JVCs revealed that on the average, SOEs and JVCs did not have enough resources to cover their short-term financial obligations in FY2019.
The SOEs equity increased from GH¢52,569.90 million in 2018 financial year to GH¢58,130.31 million in 2019 financial year, indicating a rise of 10.58% (GH¢5,560.41 million).
The JVCs, on the other hand, posted a 46.38% (GH¢5,811.56 million) increase in equity from GH¢12,531.22 million in 2018 to GH¢18,342.78 in 2019.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu