Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, has explained why the tourism and creative arts sector was not included in his 2025 Budget and Financial Statement, presented to Parliament on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Unlike previous years, when the finance minister would discuss allocations and strategies for all sectors, Ato Forson stated that his administration has departed from the norm.
He said, instead, the sector ministers will be responsible for presenting their own detailed reports and plans to Parliament.
“Sector ministers will be presenting to this house a detailed sectorial performance and outlook, as well as specific sector interventions to deal with the challenges of various MDAs,” Ato Forson said.
He emphasised that this shift is intentional, as he believes the ministers of the various sectors should be the ones outlining their plans rather than the finance minister covering everything in the budget speech.
“This is indeed a departure from the norm where ministers of finance present detailed sectorial performance as part of their budget speech. I believe sector ministers must be made to do so,” he added.
This new approach likely explains why tourism & creative arts, and sports were not mentioned in the budget.
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