SIGA implores SOEs to leverage technology, AI

The State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) has asked State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to leverage Artificial Intelligence and technology to turn their fortunes around.

It noted that technology had improved the operations of many companies and helped turn them from small businesses to huge entities.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at the launch of the 2023 State Ownership Report in Accra, Mr. John Boadu, the Director General of SIGA, said the authority had taken a keen interest in how emerging technologies were shaping the future of businesses.

He said SIGA was deploying some reforms and interventions that would help SOEs participate in the digital economy and also ensure that the government’s investments amounting to about 800 billion cedis in the hands of Specified Entities (SE) were protected and made profitable.

He stated that leveraging technology in today’s high-tech world was a must for all growing businesses.

Themed “Inclusive Growth and Value Addition: The Role of Specified Entities,” the report, which had been prepared in compliance with the indicators in the World Bank-sponsored Public Financial Management for Service Delivery (PFM4SD) Program, aims at supporting the implementation of Government’s Public Financial Management Reform Strategy.

The report underscored SIGA’s pledge to align the SOEs with the Government’s 2023 agenda to restore and sustain macroeconomic stability through inclusive growth and value addition under the Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) and sought to strengthen the oversight, performance management, and fiscal discipline of SOEs.

The 2023 SOR covers 147 (84%) out of the 175 Entities listed in the Cabinet-approved SIGA Entity List.

The 147 entities comprise 53 State-Owned Enterprises (SOES), 31 Joint Venture Companies (JVCs), and 63 Other State Entities (OSEs).

Included in the report are dedicated chapters on transactions with the government, fiscal risk exposures, climate-smart initiatives, and investments, as well as gender representation, particularly at Management and Board levels.