Combined assets of SOEs, JVCs, other SE’s reach GHS 417bn – Report
The 2020 State Ownership Report by the Finance Ministry, has disclosed that government recorded a GHS 417 billion combined assets of State Owned Enterprises, Joint Venture Companies, Minority Interests and other Specified Entities in 2020.
According to the report, the GHS 417bn total assets was driven by increments in the assets of the SOEs, JVCs, Minority Interests and other SE’s in the year under review.
Assets of SOEs grew to GHS 171bn in 2020, a 15.12% growth as compared to that of 2019, JVCs recorded a total asset base of GHS 30bn in 2020, a 23.79% growth in the total asset recorded for 2019.
Total assets of Minority Interests and other SEs amounted to GHS 86bn and GHS 128bn respectively.
The report further indicated that the combined liabilities of SOEs, JVCs, Minority Interests and other SEs reached GHS 306bn in 2020 with SOEs fueling the growth in liabilities recording a total GHS 119bn liabilities in 2020 – an increase of 22.47% as compared to that of 2019.
Short term liabilities accounted for about 57.37% of the total liabilities of SOEs.
While the total asset base of JVCs amounted to GHS 30bn in 2020, the portfolio’s liabilities also went up by 25.52 percent from GHS 22bn in 2019 to GHS 27bn in 2020.
Combined revenue of SOEs, JVCs, Minority Interests and other SE’s also reached GHS 130bn in 2020, the revenue was mainly fueled by the increase in the Minority Interest portfolio, particularly from the mining sector which contributed to over 80% of the portfolio.
Aggregate revenue for Minority Interest entities amounted to GHS 53bn in 2020, an increase of 29.40% from the GHS 41bn recorded in 2019.
According to the report, the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic tended to disproportionately affect JVCs and severely hampered their revenue-generating ability.
Aggregate revenue outturn from State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to government for the 2020 review period amounted to GHS 45.23bn.
Per the 2020 State Ownership Report by the Ministry of Finance, the GHS 45.23bn revenue recorded by SOEs for 2020, marks a revenue increment of 20 percentage points when compared to the 2019’s revenue performance of GHS 37.91bn.
Additionally, the report has revealed that the mining sector paid some GHS 224.77 million as dividends to the government in 2020.
This contributed hugely to the GHS 275.48 million dividend paid by the State Owned Enterprises to the government in 2020.
The enhanced dividend payment was mainly fueled by the increase in the Minority Interests portfolio contribution particularly the mining sector which paid GHS 224.77 million in 2020 as compared to GHS 38.48 million in 2019.
The GHS 275.48 million dividend represents a shortfall of GHS 15.46 million compared to the target, but far higher than the dividend paid in 2019.
Dividends paid in 2020 represented an increase of 164.96 percent, about GHS 171.51 million, over that of 2019.
In terms revenue losses, SOEs recorded some GHS 2.61bn losses in the year under review.
The recorded loses for 2020 represents a 49.2 percent improvement on the 2019 aggregate net loss of GHS 5.16bn.
Government’s Minority Interests in mining firms resulted in an aggregate net profit of GHS 11.25 billion in 2020 as against a net loss of GHS 62.17 million for 2019.
Government’s fiscal exposure to projects pegged at GHS 21.5bn
Meanwhile, government, according to the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), stands to lose some GHS 21.5bn in investments made in 2020.
According to SIGA, government’s financial or fiscal exposure to investments made within 2020 include government subvention of GH¢1,476.83 Million, on-lent loans of GH¢14,738.40 Million; government guarantees of GH¢2,383 Million, contingent liabilities of GH¢138.99 Million (US$24.13 Million) from ongoing Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects. Government also provided support and bail-outs to some Specified Entities.
”Government’s fiscal exposure (either explicitly or implicitly), as at the end of FY2020 amounted to GH¢21,531.10 Million,” stated SIGA in the 2020 State Ownership Report by the Ministry of Finance.
Financial or fiscal exposure refers to the amount of money an investor stands to lose in investments made in a project or a business.
