Dhaka, March 25 -- Mitigating pains of inflation and ensuring good prices for farmers by the same stroke pose a dilemma for finance officials in preparing national budget, leading them to walk a tightrope.

This moot question dominates during consultations of the finance minister with top officials of ministries concerned before he gets down to cobbling his maiden budget incidentally amid daunting problems specially on commercial and financial fronts.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali sat for such a pre-budget consultation Sunday, where the ministry for commerce and the ministry for farmers respectively placed their demands that relate to the aforesaid critical balancing, sources said.

According to the sources, commerce secretary...