The government has warned that it would not hesitate to sanction distribution companies that arbitrarily increased the prices of their goods.

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, who gave the warning, said although the government would not re-introduce price controls into the system, the Ministry of Trade and Industry would not sit down unconcerned for some unscrupulous businessmen to cheat the people and create bad image for the government.

Mr Osafo-Maafo was reacting to a question posed by a participant at a public forum to discuss the 2003 budget in Kumasi on Wednesday on the need for the government to introduce measures to curb the arbitrary increases of prices of goods and services by retailers and distributors, following the recent increase in petroleum prices.

He said the government might be forced to revoke the licences of companies that were taking undue advantage of the situation to cheat Ghanaians and tarnish the image of the government.

Mr Osafo-Maafo also announced that the government would soon review rent laws in the country as part of measures to introduce sanity into the housing industry.

He said the current situation where landlords demanded between one and four years' rent advance before providing accommodation was unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue.

He said landlords had over the years, abused the laws governing rent in the country and were demanding unreasonably high rent advances to the detriment of tenants.

The Finance Minister said government would pursue vigorous laws that would prevent landlords from cheating and collecting rent advances covering more than six months.

He said as part of measures to solve the accommodation problems facing Ghanaians, government had directed the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to construct additional housing units in regional and district capitals and rent them out to workers.

The Ministry of Works and Housing was also pursuing housing policies that would ease accommodation problems in the country.

Mr Osafo-Maafo described the 2003 Budget as development and revenue mobilisation oriented and called on Ghanaians to assist the government to identify all loopholes to ensure increased revenue for development.

He observed that managing the national economy called for basic skills and common sense and gave the assurance that if war was averted in Iraq and the world economy went well, the budget would offer a better future for Ghanaians.