The participants, from across the country, were taken through all aspects of the budget on the theme: “Sowing the Seeds for Growth and Jobs,” which the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, presented to Parliament for approval on March 2.

Opening the workshop, the Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Hamid, stressed the important role of the information and budget officers in the regional and district offices, saying they were the link between the Government and the people at the communities.

He said it was, therefore, important for the officers to be abreast of the budget statement and economic policy to be in a better position to explain and educate the public on it to enable them to understand and appreciate government’s vision.

Mr Hamid urged the information officers to carry out their task devoid of partisanship and build consensus on matters of national importance. “There is the need to build public consensus on matters of national importance,” he said, adding that the budget was not a matter that could be dealt with on partisan lines.The Minister said government had plans to translate government policies and programmes into the seven major languages used on national radio - Ga, Ewe, Twi, Nzema, Dagbani, Dagare and Hausa.

Mr Kwaku Kwarteng, the Member of Parliament for Obuasi, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Finance, said the budget had been crafted to deal with the manifesto promise of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and to address the challenges inherited from the previous government.

He said the objective of the Government was to restore and sustain macroeconomic stability through prudent management of the economy and also deal with the energy challenges facing the country.

Besides, government aims at reducing the high fiscal deficit and the growing debt through prudent use of the country's economic resources. The Acting Director of the ISD, Madam Elizabeth Efua Essel, advised the participants to take the workshop seriously and adequately equip themselves with the policies in the budget so that they could communicate it effectively.