"Reduction of taxes and duties will have no significant impact on the prices of essentials unless we shun rent-seeking, corruption and toll collection at every point in the transport sector and bring in improvement in management of stock and government's regulatory supervision," Saifur said proposing some measures for lowering the prices of essentials.

These issues repeatedly came up during discussions on the price hike over the last four years, but no effective measures were taken to remove these obstacles.

The skyrocketing prices of essentials have put the people's life in a miserable state. Even a number of the ruling alliance leaders warned the government high-ups on several occasions that the party would face debacles in the polls for the price spiral and acute shortage of electricity.

"We should keep the prices of some of the basic commodities within the reach of the common people. [But] Tariff mechanism is not the only way to ensure price stability in the market," Saifur said in his budget speech proposing reduction of duties and taxes on some items.

Though his observation apparently points to a lack of good governance the proposed budget is however high on rhetoric without specific directive or reform proposal to promote good governance.

The finance minister did not mention any concrete measures to encourage good governance practices, but claimed the government has initiated steps to ensure transparency in the financial sector.

He referred to the government initiatives to formulate the Public Procurement Regulation Act to ensure transparency and accountability in government procurement. But the proposed law placed in parliament four months ago is yet to be passed.

In his speech, the finance minister did not address some burning issues including appointment of ombudsman, setting up of national human rights commission, and separation of the judiciary [from the executive].

Contrary to the government's claim, the reality shows the country is suffering from a lack of good governance that the World Bank has recently revealed in a study, showing deterioration in governance comparing the previous government.

Besides, the budget has no significant proposal to reduce acute shortage of power that forced farmers to demonstrate in the streets.

In a bid to control the price hike and improve the power situation, the prime minister has recently removed Altaf Hossain Choudhury from the commerce ministry and Iqbal Hasan Mahmood from the Power Division.

The government has now come up with some new measures in the proposed budget, as the situation remains unchanged.

To meet the increasing demand for power, the government in the budget proposed a power rehabilitation programme with an outlay of Tk 100 crore and an energy development fund of Tk 100 crore. These have been intended to promote the use of solar power and other renewable sources of energy for remote localities where people are deprived of power supply.

To improve the power generation, transmission and distribution, the minister said an allocation of Tk 3,586 crore has been earmarked for 52 projects including two new ones in the ADP for FY 2006-07.

But the BNP-led alliance government is unlikely to get the results from the proposed projects, as its tenure expires in October this year.