The bonuses, allowances, per diems, and other entitlements of comfort of State-Owned Enterprises workers have been scrapped due to the Covid-19 loses.

This comes after government directed all SOEs to cut down their expenditure by about 30 per cent.

So far, 18 out of 28 of the Enterprises are projected to lose in excess of ¢2 billion by the end of 2020 due to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Director-General of the State Institutes and Governance Authority (SIGA), Stephen Asamoah Boateng told Joy Business, the SOEs have no alternative now than to operate with a lean budget.

“The first-quarter figures show that we were going down and that’s where we started revising our notes. The president gave the indication that we needed a plan ‘B’ and cabinet had to look at all the SOEs, cutting back and withdrawing their programs.

“We’ve been looking across the board about 30 per cent drop has happened. What it means is that some arrears bonuses, increase in salaries will be affected. Just to be able to manage within our means,” he stated.

Citing the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) as an example, Mr Asamoah Boateng said, “All of them revised their budget. Due to the drop in oil prices, GNPC has had to reverse its budget downwards.

“The drop has affected the whole projection of their revenue. Their CSR, which had a budget of ¢55 million was dropped to about ¢35 million.”

Currently, about 13 SOEs have be weaned off the government’s payroll including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the Energy Commission.

So far, SIGA has introduced drastic reforms to check wastage among heads of SOEs including possible jail terms.

“We have departed from the SEC era where non-compliance did not mean anything, this time there are heavy penalties ranging from refusal to grant bonuses, financial charges, through to recommendation to appointing authority to remove Management and Board of Directors and, prosecution leading to court fines and jail terms,” he stated.

The coronavirus Pandemic has caused Ghana a revenue shortfall of ¢13.6 billion with an unexpected expenditure of ¢11.7 billion.

There is also a reduction in petroleum revenue mainly due to decline in crude oil prices (from $62.6 per barrel used in the 2020 budget to $39.1 per barrel) due to the pandemic, estimated at ¢5,257 million-1.4 per cent of GDP and increase in expenditures to contain the spread of the virus.

Source: Myjoyonline.com